Excalibur: Soulfire
by texaswookie
Summary: Sequel to Excalibur: The Sword is Drawn. A BTVS fic. The Angels begin to choose their Champions for the coming war with Lucifer. Supernatural characters become Marvel & DC Super heroes. Minor BTVS crossover unless you've read the first story in series.
1. Ghost Riders

Own No rights of the Supernatural, BTVS, Marvel or DC characters that I'm using here.  
And I'm back with playing around with this reality I made a couple years ago. You don't have to read the original story for this to make sense though.

* * *

The young man paced back and forth in the small room doing his best to ignore the smell of the burgers or the sight of the beers that were sitting there invitingly. He was a slightly shorter than average, but he made up for his lack of height with speed and strength. He was wearing a beaten leather jacket, jeans, work boots, and a shirt that needed a good wash. He was Dean Winchester, the oldest of the two demon hunting brothers.

Dean paced around the glorified waiting room that the Angel S.O.B's had dumped him into. He couldn't believe that this was happening. Everything seemed to be falling down around him faster than he could put it back together. They had been given a rather simple task, stop the various demons from destroying 66 of the Seals so that they could stop the Devil, Lucifer, or whatever you wanted to call him from rising. Over the year 65 of the Seals had been taken out. To make things even worse was Sam had decided now of all times to go and pull one of his Lone Ranger stunts.

He had honestly tried to stop his brother, but Sam had kicked his ass thanks to the demon mojo that was running through him. Thanks to that, the Angels had stuck him in this fricking white room of theirs so that they could have him end things when they were ready for him. For some reason they seemed to think that he was going to be a good little attack dog and just do what they told him when they told him. The only person that he followed the orders of without question was his dad, which these junkless superior assholes were not. Then again he wasn't as likely to follow his dad anymore either. He had tried to convince Castiel that there were better ways to stop this. Besides, all they had to do was let him talk Sammy down, and he and his brother could get back to their regular lives. For some reason that he couldn't fathom though, the various Angels were content to let that part of the fight play out and keep him in reserve until some magically special moment that even he didn't know what was happened.

Dean lost the battle and finally reached for one of the burgers only to feel himself get grabbed and spun with a hand over his mouth. He looked into the brown eyes of the human that Castiel was using. Mussed up hair five o'clock shadow and along with a rumpled suit hidden by a gray overcoat completed the image of the only Angel that he could stand to be around for more than 30 seconds. Once he was sure that Dean was going to be silent, the Angel flashed the demon killing knife out and then sliced himself on the arm and quickly began writing several seals on the wall with his own blood.

"Castiel." A voice barked out causing both to look up to see a portly business man striding toward them. The two recognized the man as the body that Zachariah used. "You want to me what the hell you're doing?" He demanded his eyes as hard as flint as he looked at the other Angel.

Castiel ignored his superior and finished his drawing then slammed his palm in the middle of the symbol causing a flash of light. When the light faded Zachariah was gone. "He won't be gone long." Castiel said. "We have to find Sam now."

"Where is he?" Dean questioned.

"I don't know." Castiel admitted grimly. "But I know who does." He said as he handed Dean Ruby's Knife. "We have to stop him Dean, from killing Lilith."

"But Lilith is going to break the final seal." A confused Dean returned.

"Lilith is the final Seal." Castiel explained to the Hunter. "She dies, the end begins." Dean nodded his head in understanding, and the two disappeared.

* * *

Dean walked into the room and drew Ruby's dagger. It had taken him a lot longer to get here than he had wanted to. First he had to stop by Chuck's, and then head for this Church hoping that he would be in time before his brother did something else stupid like kill Lilith. He thought that the irony of killing Ruby with her own weapon was something that she would appreciate as he tightened his grip on the blade. As he walked into the room he noticed Sam was on the ground in shock as he realized what he had done, while a smug Ruby seemed to be comforting him as she explained what Sam had just done.

The demon looked up as she saw him enter the room the blade at the ready. "You're too late." She boasted at him triumphantly.

"I don't care." Dean returned to her darkly.

Sam rose up and grabbed her from behind and the surprised demon was then an easy target as he gutted her and yanked the knife out. The two brothers watched as the demon bitch that had been manipulating them for the past couple of years or so finally fell to the ground. Ruby seemed shocked that the two of them would dare to do this to her after all that she had done to make sure that the Seals were destroyed. The gloating demon was still trying to understand how she had gone from the top of mountain to being just another one of the bodies casually tossed to the side.

"Dean I'm sorry." Sam apologized as he looked at his brother in horror, as he finally became aware of everything that he had done while Ruby had been whispering into his ear. All the manipulations that the demon had sent him through came rushing back to him.

The two then turned to look at the fallen form of Lilith. "Well that sucks." Dean said, as he saw the blood complete its circle and form the gateway to hell that was opening up to allow Lucifer to slip out.

"We tried to stop this you know?" Zachariah said in disappointment as he appeared beside them. "Everything we did was to make sure that this never happened. By the way you boys need to get ready for what's coming." He said as a crack formed in the circle and a bright light started to seep out.

"Can't you do anything to stop him, you're a freaking Angel can't you turn time off or something?" Dean questioned the old looking man. "I mean I know your kind can travel back and forth through time. Why can't you pause it till we have something that can stop him from getting out?"

"It doesn't work that way, this isn't some stupid video game where they give you the time to come up with a new strategy because the one you had isn't working." The Angel snapped at him in annoyance. "And thanks to you and a bunch of other idiots we're here now." Zachariah shot back toward the blonde in annoyance.

"Had things worked out right, the imbalances that had been created through life wouldn't have happened like this, but because they have you have no chance of winning. Currently all of the plans that we had to deal with this are ruined because of the imbalance. Even if you were to take on the power that we had originally planned there's no way that you could win. Lucifer would merely find someone to work with, and right now there are simply too many for him to call on. In Europe the Death Eaters have scattered all over, the Military has taken a renewed interest of late in the supernatural, the loss of all your hunter buddies, the rise of one of the Old Ones happening about two or three years early and retaining more of its power than expected, not to mention said Old One is definitely not on our side, the loss of so many of the Seals, there are still a lot of demons out there still from when the Devils Gate was cracked open, the vampire that was supposed to help save the world is gone, the soldier that was supposed to help the Slayer is dead, the witch that was supposed to help fix the balance has been disabled, the ever rising Slayer has left her post, the Slayer's chosen champion is dust, the Source is growing in power more and more every day, and the White Master Mage is dead." Zachariah said bitterly as he listed all the things that had gone wrong of late.

"To make it worse, we can't even revive or heal the ones that were lost. It would require too much interference to put the balance back in place without causing even more disruptions which means that we have to find other methods to deal with the problems that you and those like you have caused. All this because we decided to focus our efforts on the two of you instead of making sure that everyone else was doing their job as well. Now the entire reality is out of whack. All of this would be so much easier if you would all just do as you were told." Zachariah smiled in relief as he finished his rant. "Ah, you wouldn't believe what a relief it is to get all that off my chest."

"Sounds like you should take all that up with upper management not us." Dean shot at the Angel.

"Fine whatever, first things first though we need to get you two buffoons out of here before Lucifer decides to jump out." Zachariah then grabbed the pair and suddenly the boys found themselves at a disturbingly familiar place.

"Is this our dad's storage shed?" Dean asked in surprise, as he looked around trying to get a grasp on just where it was that they were now.

"Yeah, yeah. It's one of the more demon proofed places that you boys would feel comfortable with." Zachariah said in annoyance as he released the brothers and began pacing around as he talked. "Alright, here's a quick rundown of what the original plan was. You Dean were to let Michael use your body while Lucifer would use Sam's and have a final fight and bring the end of days about."

"What, there is no way I'm going to let some dickless pervert stick his hand up my ass and make me his puppet." Dean said with a defiant glare.

"Yeah well it doesn't matter, because with all the imbalances even if all the Angels were to loan their Blessings to Michael he would still lose." Zachariah said dismissively. "That means we need to make your bodies more powerful so that you can do more before the final battle comes. So that the vessels can deal with anything that may come up."

"And how do you plan on giving us power?" Dean grumbled. "I hardly think that you're going to turn us into Angels or anything."

"Funny you should ask that." Zachariah said with a grin. "Oh Camael, you're on." He called out.

Suddenly several more figures in well pressed suits appeared before them. "I am here Zachariah." One of them said as he stepped forward to the older looking man.

"Good, I need you to give these boys some juice, is there anything that you can do to them?" Zachariah questioned.

"I'll do what I can brother." Camael returned to the other Angel. "You really should deal with Castiel though. The youngster is becoming impatient again and you know what happens when he gets restless."

"Yes of course I'll deal with him." Zachariah assured, he then began walking away and seemed to disappear.

"So what are you going to try and do to us?" Dean questioned curiously, as he looked the newest Angel in their lives over warily. Angels were such fickle beings, it seemed Anne and Cass were good Angels to have at your back. Anne had been a good roll as well he thought to himself as he remembered the redheaded Angel. Uriel and Zachariah on the other hand had been real pieces of work in the douchebag side. His eyes scanned the room trying to find something that he might be able to use against the assholes. Despite the room being littered with weapons of various kinds though, he didn't see anything that looked like it might be of use against Angels. Most of the really powerful things were locked up and take too long to get too.

The Angel ignored him as he studied the two boys. "Yes the flames of vengeance will work nicely for you two." The Angel said as he studied them. "Since one of you has been tainted with demonic blood and the other has spent some time in hell that will make it even easier with what I have in mind." The Angel then began speaking in Enochian, the language of the Angels and both hunters grunted as they covered their ears while various things cracked or exploded around them. Flames suddenly surrounded them and pair of brothers felt as if they were being cooked from the inside. They watched helplessly as flames seemed to force themselves between their lips and into their bodies. The flames flared, blinding the two and they fell down as if they were puppets with cut strings. "Yes, that should do." The Angel said looking rather pleased with himself at what he had just done to the brothers.

"What the hell did you do to us?" Dean rasped out weakly as he tried to climb back to his feet.

"I merely followed my orders and gave you the power that you would need." Camael returned carelessly as he looked down at the brothers. "Trust me, before this is all over you're going to need every ounce of power that you've got from me."

"You still didn't say what you did to us." Sam gasped out.

"True." Camael admitted with a smirk, he then knelt down beside the brothers so that they were face to face. "Tell me Dean, in all of your slacking off over the years did you ever read comics?"

"Sure." Dean said with a shrug not sure where this was going, but willing to play along for the moment.

"Well then Dean, you might remember the Rider of Vengeance then." Camael said hopefully, while giving the elder brother a knowing look.

"Oh you jackass." Dean growled, his eyes lighting up in recognition of the term as he climbed to his feet. He had a vague idea of just what it was that had been done to them.

"Yes, well while there is no way your bodies could hold the grace of a true Angel without the Angel being, but there because of your uniqueness there is a small part that can be held within you." Camael explained to the young man as he climbed to his own feet. "Now before I leave you, I think it's only fair that I get your rides here." The Angel said as he snapped his fingers. "Well, have fun boys, I hope you enjoy your upgrades. Be sure to kill lots of demons." He taunted them. The door to the storage garage snapped open and the two Hunters saw the headlights of two different cars. The first was their Impala, something that they had been expecting the second one was a red ford charger. The boys turned their heads back toward the Angels only to see that they had already left.

The two brothers looked in confusion before they stumbled to the cars and saw that all of their own personal demon hunting gear was in each of their cars.

"Dean, do you know what happened to us?" Sam asked curiously

"Yeah I think I do." Dean said. "Come on lets go find someplace to get food."

"Not yet Riders, you have a mission to do first." Camael's voice said. "Consider this as something of a test drive for your new powers." The Angel's voice said in amusement. A piece of paper then floated down in front of them with an address for a place a couple hours away.

"Let's go." Dean said and Sam nodded as the two Hunters opened the doors of their cars. They quickly began the drive to the unknown destination.

The cars appeared in front of large building a while later. The brothers got out and looked at the large house wondering what it was that the Angels wanted them to do here. While the brothers were trying to get a handle on the area Camael appeared between the two cars. "Good, you made okay time." He said with a smirk. "Now, to test those skills of yours before we let you monkey boys out on your own. First thing is, we need a real task for you. The whole ghost and poltergeist thing is now a bit beneath you and your current level of ability. Of course that just means that we've got to find you something a bit more on your level is all." The Angel said good naturedly.

"And what's something on our current level?" Sam asked worriedly, not sure he wanted to know just what the Angels thought their level was considering what they had already put them through in the past year, and that was when they thought of them as only slightly better than monkeys.

"Why the being that lives here of course." Camael returned with a smirk. "Now, how about you boys shed those human meat sacks, and show the real you." He suggested.

"And the real us would be what?" Dean grumbled Sam shot a confused look at his brother the way Dean. "Not now Sam, I want this Angel to admit what he did to us." Dean said while glaring at the Angel.

"All in good time." The Angel replied. "As Hunters I thought that you would have liked to know just what it is that you were going up against."

"And that would be what your holiness?" Dean snarked.

"Ah, the famous Dean Winchester wit that I've heard so much about." Camael shot back.

"What are we doing here, and what are we facing?" Sam questioned, knowing that Dean was an easy target when he was agitated like this.

"Fine, fine." Camael said his eyes twinkling in amusement. "The target in there is one of the more powerful beings in the world. Not as strong as Angels of course, but still plenty strong."

"Yeah, and yet you still need us to do your dirty work for you." Dean said grouchily. "So what is it that the big bad angels need us to deal with?"

"They're called Pagans." Camael said with a shrug obviously done with messing with the older brother his eyes narrowing in annoyance at the jab at Angels and their abilities. "The Pagans are leftover remnants from Ancient days when the Old Gods made a habit of walking about in the world. They created beings that had a portion of their abilities that they would have as agents for their will. There were some side effects though."

"Wait, a Pagan, like that pair of God's we took out that one Christmas?" Sam said in understanding.

"Exactly," Camael said, "they weren't kidding when they said that you were the smart one I see. So if you two idiots would just get in there and deal with the problem for me."

"Fine lets go." Dean said tersely. "We'll do it without changing like you suggested though." He added cutting the Angel off.

"Fine, but you'll want these boys." The Angel said as Dean's shotgun appeared in his hand and Ruby's Knife in Sam's. "Now go stop those Pagans before they decide to kill a whole bunch more humans." The Angel ordered.

"As if you care." Dean said cynically, as he checked his gun before ushering his brother to come with him. The two brothers approached the house and easily entered the room. As they walked through they saw a pair of figures sitting in the main room surrounded by the half eaten bodies of several people.

"Well, well what do we have here?" one of the figures said, as it turned to look at the duo that had broken into its home. "Some extra sacrifices for us it would seem."

"Be careful boy they smell of Angel Fire and Hell Fire." An old man sitting on a couch warned.

"I shall of course be careful." The younger looking man said while flashing a smile at the brothers. "I take it by those little weapons you're carrying that you are hunters come to try and take us out?" He questioned them mockingly. "Allow me to introduce myself before we begin fighting I am Baldur Norse God of Light, over on the couch is Odin the Norse God of War. Judging by your stupid looks, and the fact you have one of the few demon killing weapons on this plane that would make you two idiots the Winchesters."

"Not bad." Dean said mockingly, "now how about you go ahead and die." He raised his shotgun up at the Pagan and fired. Everyone in the room was shocked as instead of the usual rock salt rounds a blast of hellfire streaked out and slammed into Baldur. Dean was the first to recover. "Sweet," he said as he released the other chamber and a new type of flame came out and knocked Baldur away.

"Impressive." Odin said as he climbed to his feet and looked Baldur over critically. "One chamber shoots hellfire while the other shoots holy fire. Either one is dangerous to all but the most powerful beings. The time of awakening must be happening again if you boys are showing that kind of power."

"The time of awakening?" Sam questioned wondering what it was that the Pagan might be talking about.

"Sure, the time of awakening. It happens when the balance is lost and beings of power come into creation to offset the imbalance. I was one of the first in my land to become one of the Gods. I had heard rumors that we were considered obsolete or something like that. It would appear that some of those rumors are true."

"So what, now the various beings are bringing in new powers but in order to do it right they need to clean house by taking out the old ones?" Sam continued with interest. "In other words, by us taking you out we make it more likely that there will be more of us."

"Something like that boy, but first you have to take us out." Odin said as he reached down and picked up a walking stick. The stick shimmered and became a giant war spear. "Get up off your ass Baldur, this is a real fight." Odin commanded. "Besides, we both know that you weren't hurt."

The Pagan that had been moaning on the floor sighed as he climbed to his feet. A flash of light and his burned clothes were back to what they had been before. He held his hand out and a sword that seemed to have its own light source appeared in his hand.

"That a boy." Odin said sarcastically.

"Please, I'm merely curious as to how the Angels have changed their methods." Baldur returned, he then turned to look Dean over with interest. "I haven't killed one like you since the days of Samson."

"Samson?" Dean said in confusion. "Sam any ideas."

"From the Bible Dean," Sam returned while rolling his eyes at his oblivious brother. "Samson was one of the Judges of Israel. Thing is he was about as strong as Hercules as well though. He died when he was tricked into telling the secret of his strength to a woman he was sleeping with. You see the source of his strength was in his hair and according to the Bible God commanded that he never cut his hair. As long as his hair was long he was stronger than most people. Once his hair was cut though, he was returned to having the same amount of strength as a regular man. You would have liked the guy according to the Bible he drank and slept around all the time."

"Sounds like an interesting guy". Dean admitted. "Can we shelve the Sunday School lesson though so we can go ahead and gank these guys?"

"You're welcome to try human." Baldur said ushering his opponent toward him.

"Sam you got the old dude I got this guy." Dean said as he fired his gun again as he strode forward. Baldur ignored the flames he moved forward to meet the young man that had broken into his home.

Sam nodded and moved to intercept Odin before he joined his companion in fighting his brother. The casual way that the God was shrugging off the attacks was worrying him as well. According to them, Dean's shotgun was shooting Hellfire and Holy Fire. Theoretically that should deal with anything that he went up against. Instead Baldur was swinging a shining sword at his brother. He was distracted as Odin launched his spear at him. Sam dodged to the side and saw that the spear had impaled a nearby chair.

Odin chuckled as he looked at the boy before him. "Not bad, you have some decent reflexes." He complimented as he held his hand out and the spear sprang from the couch back into his hand. "Ah yes that must have been a bit of a surprise." He said while brandishing the spear. "Gungir has special magic's that allow it to return to my hand after every throw."

"Great, a reloadable spear." Sam muttered as the Pagan launched another strike at him. Sam ducked behind the couch as the spear sped out the window. Taking advantage of the added distance, Sam rushed at the Pagan coming in at him low hoping that he could get to him before he could retrieve the spear. As he neared Odin he brandished the knife idly noting that the blade had caught on fire. He tried to stab the knife into his opponent. Odin caught the arm and twisted, sending Sam flying into a table. He looked up in time to see Odin reach out and catch the incoming spear.

Dean wasn't having much more luck as he fought against Baldur he had fired his shotgun at the thing that he was firing. Baldur didn't even seemed to be phased by his attacks. For the moment he was having to dodge the various swipes of Baldur's blade. Everything that the sword came close to it cut through like it was butter. It was almost impossible to dodge the strikes though and he knew that sooner or later that he was going to get hit by the sword. It was kind of hard to dodge a sword when it was being wielded by a master like Baldur. He dodged one strike and held his gun up to at least slow down the next strike. The blade surprisingly bounced off of the gun and a grinning Dean smacked the Pagan with the side of the weapon sending him stumbling back. "How do you like that?" Dean said with a smirk as he brought the butt of his gun into gut of the Pagan. He went to swing it again upside the head but the weapon was caught.

Baldur merely looked amused at the Hunter. "You might as well give it up boy, there's no way that you can hurt me. Not with that weapon no matter what's been done to it. I'm going to take it you were never much of a student." He then punched Dean sending him flying next to Sam.

"So any ideas?" Dean asked from where he was laying.

"No ideas that come to mind." Sam returned.

"You know I thought that you two were supposed to be good at this." Camael said as he appeared between the two. "I guess this explains why so many of the Seals were taken out though." He noted.

"Yeah well screw you," Dean replied back at the Angel hotly. "We usually prefer to have a bit of time to go against these sorts of things, besides as I heard it a lot of you Angel types didn't do that much better protecting the Seals. If Angels are really so much better than how come we managed to survive while they didn't?" The blonde Hunter challenged the Angel.

Camael glared at Dean at that. "It's tempting to let those two slice you up to little bits. However, the higher ups seem to think that you still have your uses, which means I have to do this. One free showing, the next time you have to figure this out on your own." The Angel snapped his fingers and sparks rose from the hand snap and touched the boys. The two boys screamed in pain, the brothers then burst into flames that destroyed their skin muscle and organs but left their bodies and clothes intact. The flaming skeletons rose to their feet and looked themselves over. "And now you're ready." The Angel said. "Do try and get it right this time, there is only so much interfering I'm allowed." He ordered, as he disappeared again.

The two riders glared at the last place that the Angel had been at. Letting loose a blast of flame Dean led the way at the two Pagans.

"Impressive little trick there." Baldur said mockingly. "Maybe now you'll actually be something of a challenge." The Pagan ushered the Riders forward in anticipation.

The Rider that was Dean snarled angrily as it reached forward and lunged at Baldur. The sword wielder was caught off guard as the demonic looking creature slipped beneath his guard and punched him. The Pagan groaned as he felt that blow. Grabbing the arm with the sword he quickly disarmed his opponent. The two quickly began exchanging punches back and forth between each other neither of them seeming to be able to overcome the other.

The Rider that was Sam on the other hand had drawn a chain from seemingly nowhere and was twirling it. Odin laughed at the weapon. He threw Gungir again. The Rider tossed its chain snatching the weapon out of the air and brought it into its hand. It then slammed the weapon into the ground before moving forward.

"Nice, you disarmed me but you forgot that I can summon my spear." Odin said holding his hand out calling the spear to his hand.

The Rider growled as it slung its chain out again the weapon clashing and with a twist it sent the spear hurtling the other way and out the window.

"Not bad." Odin said he then moved forward to engage the Rider. "Let's see if you're as good close up." The Rider charged forward and slammed itself into the Pagan the two fell to the ground and began rolling around on the ground trying to overpower each other.

Dean was caught by a mean uppercut that sent him flying across the room. He climbed back to his feet though and watched as he flicked his hand and the sword reappeared in his hand with a flash.

"You really are rather pathetic aren't you?" Baldur questioned cockily. "Did you really think that even with all of your power that I was going to be that easy? While you have taken an impressive beating I have yet to even be harmed." Baldur boasted waving his hands to show that he didn't have a mark on him. "There are only two things that can harm me, and I'm not foolish enough to bring either of them into my own house."

The two fighters watched as Odin went flying across the room. He held his hand out and they watched as the Gungir came flying back into the room. Sam twirled his chain and sent the metal links flying instead of wrapping around the spear though this time the weapon slammed into the shoulder of Odin. The Pagan groaned as he fell to his knees the spear clattering to the ground. Sam then took the chain and wrapped it around the throat of Odin and began pulling on it. The Pagan grunted as he tried to break the chain but it suddenly snapped through the being and the two parts fell away from each other,

"Odin!" Baldur said in surprise. He then glared at the two figures. "You are going to regret that. Odin and I were the last of the Norse Pagans. Now I shall show you what happens to those that dare to destroy our kind." He created two of his sparkling swords and charged at the brothers. The two fiery figures dodged the various strikes with ease and the ones that they didn't they met with the chains that were wrapped around their arms. Baldur moved between the brothers seeming to move without any problem as he battled them. It was quicly turning into a standoff though because the swords were missing hitting the Riders but the Riders couldn't inflict any damage against the Pagan either.

Sam ducked a strike and grabbed Gungir of the ground and threw the weapon at Baldur. The weapon moved at incredible speeds, but then bounced off of the Pagan as if it was a toy weapon.

"Its not going to work you fools." Baldur growled out at the pair angrily.

"Mistletoe," Sam grunted.

Dean nodded his head and swung his own chain and they watched as the chain wrapped around Baldur. Dean brought his fingers to his lips and whistled and they heard a roaring sound and then a crash as the Impala surged through the wall and into the room. Dean smiled as he dragged the struggling Pagan to the back of the car and attached it. The Ghost Rider took the time to examine his car. The car still looked like an Impala but now the car had flickering flames where once there had been lights and the wheels had been replaced with flames as well. The pair of Riders nodded to each other as Dean climbed into his Rider and Sam climbed into his car that was waiting outside. The interiors of the cars had been replaced with bones leather and other monstrous attachments. The two cars took off at near impossible speeds trailing flames behind them one dragging Baldur behind it. They finally stopped in a forest. Same headed for a tree and got some mistletoe while Dean went to check on Baldur. Baldur's clothes had been ripped up into shreds yet his body still appeared unharmed.

"So is this it." The figure said, as he saw the boys approach it with some mistletoe. "Newsflash boys, that stuff can hurt me, but it ain't the Mistilteinn."

The brothers were distracted as the first rays of sunlight appeared over the landscape. "Ah, and a new day is here." Baldur said smugly as he felt the first rays of the sun. "Meaning I am repowered. Perhaps we shall do this another time I will remember what you have done and the fact you have declared war on all Pagans." With that he seemed to fade away as the light hit him. Dean glared where Baldur had been and his fist smashed through a giant tree.

"Not bad boys, not bad at all." Camael said as he reappeared before the brothers as the light of day hit them the two brothers returned to their human forms. "In time you'll learn how to do that better. Now I'm sure that you two have your own little things to get doing. You're hunts should be a more interesting from now on though." He added with a smirk. Maybe you can help with the imbalance of the world. With that he disappeared.

"What the hell were we?" Sam questioned in shock.

"The Ghost Rider." Dean returned gruffly. "Grab your gear, I'll explain on the way to town. Sam nodded as they each headed for a car. Dean wondered just what it was that the Angels had done to them and how the hell he was going to explain it all to Sam. Still if they had to be comic book characters at least it was one as bad ass as the Ghost Rider at least. Right now he needed a beer or twenty though to process everything that had happened in the last few days.


	2. Angel Power

I own nothing of the Supernatural world, Touched by an Angel, or of the DC comic book characters.

* * *

Zachariah the Angel that had been charged with preparing everything for the coming End of Days sighed a bit as he sat down at a table. He still wasn't sure how all this had come about. He had done everything the way that he was supposed to. He had seen to it that the bloodline of Cain and Able was kept fresh all of these thousands of years, manipulating the descendants as needed so that they would cross their lines as needed to keep the line strong. Not something that was as easy as one would think, particularly after the people started inhabiting the entire earth. All of his work had paid off though, as finally a pair of boys with the strongest bloodline since Cain and Abel themselves finally appeared. It was the sign that all of the Angels had been eagerly waiting for. It meant that the time was nearly upon them. At least that was the only thing that they could think it meant since the Father hadn't been around to tell them otherwise. All of that work, and it was really only the first step that was done.

He had then tricked the pathetic demons that thought that they were the ones pulling all of the strings so that he could prepare them for the future. He arranged for John Winchester to become one of the most feared and respected Hunters that the world had ever seen. The last Hunter that had been as feared as him had been Samuel Colt. That had required some work, as the fool had rushed headlong into the life of a Hunter. If the man's destiny hadn't been to raise his sons into the life of Hunters he would have allowed the man to die. Still, it was only Guardian Angel work hardly something that an Angel of his caliber needed to worry about. It had also become easier as the man had become better at the work. The main problem had been insuring that he kept his distance from the Campbell line.

After all that work of manipulating the bloodlines and ensuring that the boys were trained though. Sam Winchester had tried to fight his destiny, and had left the family to go to school of all places. The ungrateful little brat had tried to ignore his destiny. He had to make sure that the two boys reunited as Hunters so that they would be ready when the time came. They also had to be trained somewhat as their daddy had laid the groundwork, but there was still plenty of things that he could teach them. So he had arranged for Azazel, or the 'Yellow Eyed Demon' to finally become ready and allowed for John Winchester to see the trail so that he would take off after it again.

The loss of their father figure had brought the boys back together, and he had allowed for them to begin the path that brought them here. He had overseen it all; the trials that they had to face, Sam surviving the combat between the other special children, Dean making his Deal, the family defeating Azazel, and Dean finally being dropped into hell like he needed to be.

At stage 3 he had sent Castiel to retrieve Dean Winchester from hell since he had finally done his duty by breaking the first of the Seals. It had taken him a lot longer to begin torturing than he had thought. The boy was made up of sterner stuff than he had originally thought. He had arranged for the Angel of Thursday to remain as a guide to the Winchesters, so that others could do their own work. That had been a mistake though since Castiel had become contaminated by the humans. The very thing that made Castiel such a great contact between Angels and the brothers had been his undoing. How could he have anticipated that Dean Winchester of all people would cause Castiel to turn on them. something like that so rarely happened. It made him wonder if he shouldn't have made Uriel the contact for the brothers. The two future vessels had then spent the rest of the year being prepared to become one with Michael and Lucifer. It was expected that the pair would be somewhat reluctant, but according to their estimates they should agree in about three or four days. If there was one thing that John Winchester had pounded into the two brats heads was answering the call of duty.

He had done everything right as far as he could see. It was the fault of all of the other beings that were supposed to watch over the world that had messed all of their plans up. He had been keeping such a close eye on the Winchester's that he hadn't had time to see what else was going on. The Slayer line splitting, the early rising of the Old One Illyria, the happenings with the wizarding world, the Source rising in power, and the loss of the White Mage had all added up. Had he known about all of this he would have allowed for the Roadhouse to somehow survive, or at the very least he would have arranged for most of the Hunters to be out at the time so that they wouldn't have all died. Instead it had been the busiest ever and had taken out 2/3 of the Hunter population and scattered the rest to all corners of the U.S. it was going to take at least 10 years to repair the damage and make the final battle one that Michael could win. That wasn't going to be allowed though, since Lucifer was already making moves into trying to control people. While he might have a weak vessel at the moment, it was better than Michael who didn't even have one. He happened to know that the Angel of Light was already creating its own warriors to combat some of the beings out there that were in place. Lucifer didn't want any interference, so was trying to keep all of the other potential threats busy. That was actually useful, as he didn't really want to bother with the various heroes or their ideas of what help might be.

Still, he had a few other matters to deal with before he bothered with what the heroes or even the brothers were doing. He watched silently as several Angels brought Castiel and Anna to sit into a pair of chairs. The two Angels were rumpled and dirty from their time spent under the supervision of their fellow Angels. Confinement obviousy had not been overly pleasant for them. the fact that most of the problems they were now facing had been blamed on the two made things easier as well.

"Castiel," Anna snarled out angrily, as she struggled against the Angels holding her. The group all saw that the woman was glaring dangerously at her fellow prisoner.

"Anna." Castiel said calmly. "It's good to see you again."

"If I weren't being tied up I'd kill you." The girl snarled back. "Did you at least have the guts to tell Dean what you did?" She demanded in annoyance as she fought to get her hands around the throat of the other Angel.

"I did not." Castiel admitted not looking the least perturbed about the fact that he had lied to the brothers about the fate of his former superior.

"I see that your betrayal didn't exactly get you that far." Ann added smugly, looking more than a little vindictive about what had happened to him. "I guess now you know the price that traitors pay."

"Yes, yes everyone has their own personal little problems with each other." Zachariah said dismissively, even as another Angel dropped their swords in front of him. "Personally I can't understand why the two of you have been so much trouble for the rest of us. We haven't had so much trouble from Angels since the days of Lucifer and Gabriel." Personally he was glad that the jokester had disappeared all those years ago and hoped that he stayed away from them. "In the last year though, the two of you have caused more mayhem than all the other Angels currently in Heaven."

"Yes, it's that little pesky thing known as free will." Anna snapped back at him acidly.

"I get enough of that little annoyance from the Winchesters, I don't need it from the two of you." Zachariah returned to her. "The two of you need to be punished so that you remember just who it is that you work for. Something that will remind you that you have no will other than what you are told."

"Not likely." Anna shot back defiantly.

"I agree," Castiel said. "I do not regret my actions in helping the Winchesters and trying to stop Lucifer from rising from his prison and stalling the end of days."

"Finally decided to get some morals that were you own then?" Anna snarked at her fellow prisoner.

"I do apologize for betraying you." Castiel returned to her calmly. "At the time I believed that it was for the best. I was wrong in thinking that though."

"Yes, well the two of you have done a lot." Zachariah returned to them. "As it stands, I'm going to have to pass judgment on you and I am in no way nearly as forgiving as the Father is."

"This wrong though." An accented voice said as a woman with dark reddish brown hair wearing a white dressed pointed out.

"Monica." Zachariah said coldly as he took in the new arrival. "I might have known that you and your bleeding heart would have gotten involved in things that didn't concern you." The two eyed each other as they had a silent battle of wills. A battle that the young woman was obviously on the losing end of.

"Who's she?" A curious Anna questioned as she watched the newcomer with interest.

"That's Monica, she's a caseworker." Castiel explained to her. "She made a name for herself in the 90's. You might have known her during her time in the Angel Choir or when she was a member of Search and Rescue."

"A case worker, and she's trying to face off with a full powered Angel?" Anna said in shock and admiration at what the woman was doing. A caseworker while extremely powerful as far as Angels went was mainly a defensive or reactive Angel. Even when you added in the power she had from her days as a search and rescue angel the difference between the level of power was staggering. "She does realize that Zachariah can end her with a thought right?" She asked him worriedly.

"If she feels strongly about something she would fight Lucifer himself." Castiel returned to her.

"Miss-Wings stop before you get yourself in trouble." A stern voice said, as a large black woman with graying hair ordered the younger woman.

"Tess," Anna said with a grim smile, "it's been a while."

"Anna." Tess returned stiffly, even as she was pulling her protégé back from the newest confrontation that she had gotten herself into.

"Tess, we can't allow this to go on if we are Angels then we should represent everything that the Father does." Monica complained to the woman.

"You don't get to make that choice Angel-Girl." Tess reminded the figure.

"As fun as this is Monica, you're already on thin ice as it is with the way you've been flaunting authority the past 20 years." Zachariah informed the caseworker darkly. "So I think that you should pipe down before you end up in hot water yourself." He threatened Monica. "Personally I'm amazed that you would even try to defend the ones that are responsible for the death of Uriel."

"Uriel's gone?" Tess said in surprise. "He used to guard the choirs on his days off." She said sadly, as she remembered the strong Angel.

"Yes, your friend Anna here killed him." Zachariah said curtly, nodding to the bound figure.

"Only after he tried to kill me." Anna spat back at him.

"He was doing his job." Zachariah returned to her with narrowed eyes. "Besides, if you had been in Heaven instead of hiding out on the Earth in the first place it would never have happened."

The announcement on the death of an Angel seemed to have taken the wind out of Monica's sails, as she stared at the bound Angels in stunned disbelief. Zachariah used her silence to move his judgment ahead. "Now then, the pair of you have to be punished, however because of all of our recent losses we can't just get rid of you or lock you away either." He said in annoyance, as if he really would have preferred it to do one of those. "That leaves me with very few options when it comes to you two."

"Would you please get it over with already, I know you love you're theatrics but this bordering on annoying." Anna said sarcastically.

Zachariah frowned at the dismissal of his performance. "Fine, I might as well before a Whitelighter or something else decides to join in on this." He grumbled out. "The two of you are banished from Heaven; your powers are also diminished. You think the Winchesters are such great beings then you can become like what we had done to them." He said gleefully.

"And what did you do to the brothers?" Castiel questioned calmly looking up at the Angel with interest.

"You're going to find out to an extent brother." Zachariah returned he then rose his feet and raised the swords over his head and began to announce his sentence on the pair. "Castiel, Anna, your punishment for opposing the Holy Host is this: I banish you from the realms of Heaven and force you to take on new forms while you are on Earth. I also limit your Grace as well. Anna you shall take on the form and abilities of the human character known as the Supergirl Matrix, the so called Earth Born Angel of Fire. Castiel you shall take on the form and powers of the human character known as Zauriel, it should be fitting for you since he is another fallen Angel. It shall be your duty to guard the Earth in your new forms, perhaps you can make a difference like that."

The two bound figures gasped as they felt the changes that began happening to their bodies Holy Fire soon encased the pair hiding them from mortal eyes. The first to break through was Castiel whose skin had changed to grey, and his wings that were usually hidden from sight from the rest of the world flared out the sword that had been in Zachariah's shot out from his hand into the hand of Zauriel. The sword shifted from its usual silver form to a flaming blade. He wore a yellow scarf that draped over his chest a loin cloth along with wrapping around his forearms and most of his legs. At the feet of the banished Angel lay the near comatose form of Jimmy Novak the former vessel of Castiel.

Anna screamed as her entire body was bathed in holy fire for a moment and when the flames died out you could see that she was wearing chain mail, with heavy metal boots, a white tunic with red trim over the armor, and a golden belt holding the tunic in place. Upon her chest was the emblem of a cross with fiery wings. Her once fiery red hair had also been changed to a bright blonde. Wings made of flame shot out of her back and her eyes flickered with flames for a moment before returning to normal.

"And thus our Supergirl, or Earth born Angel is born." Zachariah noted drily, as he looked the figure over. "The rest of your power will go to those that are more able to use it." He informed the pair of weakened warrior Angels.

"One of these days we'll get our full powers back and then you'll be sorry." Anna said, as she weakly fell to one knee as her strength gave out over the shock of having her grace weakened so drastically.

"Easy there girl." Tess said as she and Monica rushed to the side of the two Angels and helped them to their feet.

"Now for your first assignment." Zachariah noted, as he looked at a clipboard in front of him. "There's a demon that's rather skilled in portal magic's that you need to deal with. You may have heard of him before, he was a former worshipper of Glorificus. Since the destruction of his Mistress by the Current Champion of the Greeks, he's been at loose ends and has been trying to use his skills to make a living of some sort or other. Someone decided to hire him for some rather disturbing work."

"Glorificus's magic user, you want us to take out one of the more skilled demon sorcerers?" Castiel said coolly.

"That's right Cass." Zachariah said as he stared at the transformed Angel while mockingly using the nickname that Dean Winchester often used in reference to the Angel. "I want you to deal with Glory's primary mystical, I want you to take out the one known as Doc."

"Great," Castiel muttered.

"I take it that he's not going to be easy?" Anna questioned her companion.

"I believe that Dean would say it's going to be a witch to do." Castiel returned stoically. "Doc may not be strong, but he is fast and has many servants he can call upon."

"You mean a bitch?" Anna asked with a knowing smirk. "Don't worry, I'm sure that there's something that we can do. While we may be weaker than your average Angel, Zachariah has made it so we can interfere more than we have in the past. It just means that we're stuck on earth. Hardly a bad thing as far as I can tell."

"You'll be singing a different tune soon enough." Zachariah assured her knowingly. "Now go earn yourself some redemption you pathetic fallen Angels." He said with a sneer dismissing the pair. A moment later the sound of fluttering wings filled the room as only Castiel, Anna, Monica, Tess, and an unconscious Jimmy Novak were left in the room.

"You be careful." Tess advised the pair solemnly as the pair were finally able to stand on their own. "Things are going to get a lot more dangerous before they get better." She warned in a dark and knowing voice. The pair nodded as they spread their wings and launched themselves into the air. "Come on Miss Wings, you and I need to get out of here. Something's telling me that there's gonna be some fallout for your latest little stunt. We also need to get this one back home." She said, nodding to the human. She then grabbed the arm of her charge and the human and the two faded away leaving a couple of dove feathers behind them.

* * *

The flying pair flew through the night till they came to a place that called to them. They could see the disk like portal that had opened up and was unstable. On the other side they could see the forms of several dragons scratching and breathing fire on the giant disk. On this side they saw that there were several dragons in their human form standing guard.

"It looks like they're hoping to add to their numbers." Supergirl noted as she watched the group.

"This is rather disturbing." Zauriel noted to his companion. "The demonic dragons were run to near extinction for a reason. If they were to be reinforced by new demonic dragons, then there was no telling what it was that they might try and do."

"With your ability to state the obvious, it's amazing that you're still alive." Anna returned to her companion dryly. "Let's just get this over with; I want to know just what it was that they did to Dean."

"A reasonable plan." Zauriel returned to her. "I too am concerned with what effects having power may effect Dean."

"Yeah, well now that I'm like this I want to see if I still have an itch for Dean to scratch." Supergirl added in with a rather knowing smirk. "There's also the fact that Zachariah said that he did something to Dean and Sam. Personally I'd like to know just what it is that he did to them." She said with a dark look on her face. "Come on." She said, as they charged towards the swirling disc.

The two moved forward to intercept the group only to be blocked as three of the last demonic dragons moved to stop them. Each of the creatures was as large as a small plane with giant wings that kept them in the air. The Dragons angrily snapped at the pair as if they were ready to fight it out with them. The Dragons breathed a burst of flame at the pair. When the flames died down the two figures appeared to be still hovering before the winged creatures unaffected by the torrent of flames.

"Interesting, it would appear that despite being weakened we are still capable of withstanding the flames of a demonic dragon."

"Yeah, yeah let's just get this over with already." Supergirl returned as she charged at the creatures and grabbed the tails of two of the creatures she then spun in the air slamming the dragons around before tossing them towards a nearby building. "Zauriel you deal with that one I've got these two." She ordered as she took off after the two creatures leaving the other fallen Angel to deal with the remaining dragon. She was willing to shelve her anger with him for the moment until after the threat was over.

"Very well." Zauriel returned as he charged at the creature before him. He began slamming his fist into the jaw of the creature staggering it. The dragon snarled and blew more flame at him only for the flames to harmlessly bathe him in flame. "It would appear that it will take more than that to stop me." Zauriel said in a rather matter of fact tone. The dragon's barbed tail shot out and slammed into the Angel. He grunted from the pain as he was thrown backwards and into a nearby satellite tower. The dragon dove forward and began wrapping the metal around the Angel binding him in place. Once he was wrapped up the creature breathed fire melting the metal around him before backing away to watch over the Angel.

Zauriel groaned as he felt where the melted metal was now holding him in place. He looked down to where he could see Supergirl battling with her dragons.

She was currently bouncing between the two monstrosities hovering between the two. She was actually doing fairly well against the creatures. The now blonde fallen Angel smirked happily as she battled the creatures that had decided to stop them from completing their mission. She moved towards one of the dragons and slammed into it the pair slammed through a wall and into a nearby building.

The Dragon snarled and head butted its attacker and knocked her away and into the chest of the dragon waiting outside. The winged arms wrapped around her and then slammed her into the ground. A pair of booted feet slammed the dragon up and into the air. Supergirl grinned as she slowly began hovering up and out of the hole she had been slammed into. "Is that the best you guys got?" She taunted them. " And hear I thought that you guys were going to be tough."

"There's plenty more actually." A voice said as a figure climbed through the hole that she had just been thrown through. "There's no way we're going to let you stop us." The Demonic Dragon in its human form returned. "There's simply too much at stake here for us to lose, if we fail there may not be any more of us anymore."

"And there being no more Dragons in the world would be such a horrible thing." Supergirl returned mockingly.

"Easy for one like you to say I'm sure." The Dragon snapped as it moved down the pile and glared at the figure. "What are you though, you're like no Pagan I've ever heard of, your too powerful to be a Slayer, and you're not strong enough to be an Angel either. If you were then we'd already be dead. So just what are you that you can match us blow for blow like you do?"

"I'm not someone that you want to get on the bad side of." Supergirl returned to her opponent.

"We'll see about that." The Dragon returned as he quickly transformed to his larger and more powerful form. With a giant bat like screech the creature lunged at her again.

Supergirl stood her ground and as the creatures got close she grabbed it by its head and spun around flinging it off to the side. She turned to follow its progress only to get clawed feet to grab her by her shoulders and lift her into the air. Supergirl flipped in its grasp and planted both of her feet into one of the knees of the monster smirking as she heard the bone snap. The dragon lost its balance in the air and came crashing down into the ground. She looked up just in time to see one of the other dragons releasing a blast of flame at her. "I'm getting tired of that." She grumbled as she stared at the incoming flames and let loose with her own flame vision that blasted through the dragon flame and struck the dragon and sent it skittering to the ground.

Zauriel turned his head away from the fight to see that his own dragon was about to make an attack run on Supergirl. The moment of not watching him was going to cost the dragon though. He looked down at his binding and began to scream at the metal that was holding him in place. The sonic waves that assaulted the metal began to shatter as he pulled himself free from the metal. He considered helping Supergirl fend the dragons off, but knew that the mission took precedence over that. She was a confident and powerful being anyways, he doubted that there was anything that he would have to worry about with her. He spread his wings and swooped towards the portal there he saw the demon known as Doc. Surrounding the demon were several young girls which he presumed were sacrifices or something similar. In most portal magic the laws of equivalent exchange had to happen or the essence of something needed a host for. He landed in a kneeling position and turned to look at the figure that was busy summoning from the giant portal. "That is enough, now stand aside." He ordered the mystic. as he drew his sword out into the ready position.

"I think not my dear boy," Doc returned to him, "while you might have some power you don't have the strength to combat what is to come." He told the former Angel knowingly. With a final wave of his arm several of the figures around him staggered as their essence was pulled from them and into the portal. A new figure then leaped from the portal. "And here comes your newest problem hero." He explained rather smugly as he took in the tall and well-muscled figure that had come out of the portal.

"An Alpha?" Zauriel said in shock and disbelief. The Demonic Dragon Alpha had been destroyed several hundred years ago thanks to St. George the Dragon Slayer. It was why the Demonic Dragons were nearly extinct since no more could be created. The only way that he could be facing an Alpha though was if he was facing something that had traveled all the way from Purgatory. Something that he had thought was nearly impossible since doorways to places like Purgatory were extremely rare and hard to open. The problem with facing an Alpha of any of the demonic races was that they were always several times stronger than the versions that they created afterwards.

"Well, well what do we have here?" The Alpha said as it looked at the figure that was standing before it.

Supergirl landed alongside of her partner and stared at the figure that was standing before them. "Let's do this." She said, as she charged forward. Zauriel nodded his head and the two moved forward to engage the new arrival. The Alpha didn't even bother to turn into a dragon as it blocked their attacks. The two fromer Angels were then slammed into each other and slammed into a nearby wall and into the room on the other side.

"Zauriel, I'll hold this one off you have to stop Doc from summoning anything else." Supergirl ordered as she leaped at the dragon again as she tried to stop him before he got angry.

Zauriel nodded as he moved after the seemingly old man. He broke through the wall and began chasing after the man who was supernaturally quick. He was faster than even a vampire or most basic demons. The being was using his speed to move out of the way moments before a strike could come. "You are fast," the Fallen Angel admitted, as he continued the chase, "but you cannot win."

"Why do you do this Fallen One. you are no longer bound to do the bidding of your comrades?" Doc questioned curiously, as he stopped for a moment to confront his attacker. "You have torn from what you once were and now you follow the commands of those that did this to you. Why would you allow yourself to become a servant to such beings?"

"I do it because I would protect that which the Father has ordained Good." Zauriel returned to the demon. "Something which he has not proclaimed you to be I might add." He then opened his mouth and released a loud scream that lifted Doc up off of his feet and to slam into a nearby wall. Taking advantage of the disorientation of his foe, he rammed his flaming blade into the chest of the demon. "I do not know if I still have the power to destroy spirit demons, but I still have enough to deal with you." He said as he twisted the sword a bit before pulling the blade out of the demon mystic. He turned around to see that Supergirl was in the middle of swinging her fist back and forth with the Alpha Dragon. In between blows the two were exchanging blasts of fire at each other as they tried to take each other down. He was about to move forward to help when he was tackled by one of the three dragons in its human form. The pair rolled around a bit before he managed to throw the creature off of him.

"Zauriel your sword!" Supergirl ordered, as she looked at the Alpha before her. Without even thinking he tossed her his blade he then screamed at the dragon whom was slammed into the wall. He heard a pained roar and turned to see that the Alpha had transformed. It was bleeding from a cut on its chest where his blade had sliced into it. Rather than continue the fight though, it leaped into the air.

The Alpha dive bombed them and spat fireballs at them. The pair of heroes dodged to the side avoiding the dragon when they looked behind them they saw that the Alpha had taken a young girl hostage and was flying away.

"We have to go after them." Supergirl said.

"No, we have to shut the portal off first." Zauriel returned stopping his former commander from recklessly taking off after the Alpha and its screaming hostage.

"But the girl." Supergirl argued.

"You know that we need to deal with this first, or there will be many more lives lost than already have been." Zauriel returned emotionlessly, he had learned in his dealings with Dean that sometimes one had to put things in perspective. Supergirl was just as emotional as Dean was and needed a steady hand to stop her from being brash. The Alpha had taken one of her best shots and all it had gotten was a deep cut. It was not something that one should try and fight in their current condition since they didn't know their limits anymore. "The sooner we finish though, the sooner we can go about looking for her." Supergirl nodded her head in acceptance of the suggestion and the two took opposing sides around the portal and began to chant. It was doubly hard to close now that the Alpha had managed to break through. The pair could see that the other Demonic Dragons were trying to push their through the barrier that separated the worlds. In some spots they could actually see that the creatures were actually making some headway in breaking through the barrier between the worlds.

An angry roar and one of the transformed Dragons rushed at Supergirl. The creature obviously hoped to allow its kin to join it on this side of portal. The former Angel turned and directed her fire blast at the dragon surprising and blinding it. As it blindly continued to charge forward Supergirl struck in the chest, and then tossed it onto the portal while it was trapped between the energy beam the Fallen Angels made several hand gestures and there was a flash as the Dragon was accepted as a sacrifice to close the portal.

The two former Angels sighed in relief as their task was completed. They had used up a lot of their energy in closing the barrier since it had been dark magic that had been used to open it in the first place. Doc and the Dragons had obviously had several days to prepare and plan for this while they had only moments to prepare and close it. While they hadn't won much, they had stopped the portal from opening completely and pouring out untold monsters that would feast on the people. Some people had been lost but more had been saved from this fight. It had taken a lot of their power though and next time they would be better prepared for what they would have to face.

* * *

The Alpha Dragon returned to its human form while dropping the girl it had taken. The girl easily twisted and landed on her feet. The teenage girl gave a predatory like smile. "It's good to be back on this side." She said, as her eyes roamed around the wooded area that they had stopped at.

"I can't believe that a Fallen Angel managed to do that to me." The Alpha grumbled as it looked at the wound on its chest.

"Don't worry, mother will make it all better." The girl cooed assuringly at him while tracing her hand over the wound sealing it back up. "The Fallen Angels aren't bad as far as Champions go." She said idly. "It looks like the new Age of Heroes is upon us. They really should have known that if they tried to do that then I would come back."

"That they should have." A voice said.

The girl whirled around and smirked as she saw the older man that was standing there before her. "Lucifer." She greeted bemusedly. "I see it is time for you and Michael to finally have your time."

"Yes, it will happen soon." Lucifer returned to her. "It's good to see you Eve, it's been a long time."

"That it has." Eve the Mother of Monsters returned as she turned her back on the Archangel. "The time of Monsters and Champions has come once again. I wonder who will win this time. If it goes like I hope I may even bring Echidna back she said with a smile as she thought of the creature that created monsters of its own.

"This world has no idea just what it is that is coming." Lucifer said in agreement. "Although I have to wonder why you bothered coming back."

"Drago, find your siblings and bring them to me." Eve ordered to the Dragon. "Find me the remaining Alphas, I must know who and what are left." The Dragon Alpha nodded before he leaped into the air and took off into the night.

Lucifer looked at her in surprise. "I thought you could reach out and touch them with you're mind?" The Angel questioned curiously.

"If I use my powers for a gathering, my enemies will know I'm here. I want to surprise them." Eve returned to the Archangel. "When I officially return I will have an army of the best and strongest ready to deal with these new Champions. Things won't be the same this time around. There's none like Hercules to stop me this time around." She said confidently.

"A good plan." Lucifer said in agreement uncaringly when he and Michael finally did fight it was doubtful that that any of the monsters would survive their battle. "I shall leave you to it since I doubt that you want my help."

"We are neither enemies nor allies Lucifer, I trust you do not make an enemy out of me as your former comrades have already done. If you oppose me you will wish to be back in your little box." The Mother of Monsters warned the Archangel before she began walking away from the rebellious Angel of Light. "I'm nowhere near as incompetent or powerless as your brothers are when it comes to dealing with those that get in my way."

Lucifer turned to look back the way that Eve had come from. "This is an interesting twist." He said before he to disappeared.

* * *

"We need to go someplace else." Zauriel told his companion as he finally climbed up to his feet. "Even with most of humanities refusal to acknowledge the supernatural world a fight like we just had was sure to have attracted some notice."

"You're right, besides we need to see if we can find the girl." Supergirl returned as she climbed back to her feet.

"You know as well as I do that the girl is probably already dead." Zauriel returned to her while looking her in the eye as he tried to explain the situation to her. "It has already either eaten or dropped the girl by now. Either way the girl is lost to us in the war against darkness. There is nothing else that you can do for her now other than to avenge her by destroying the Alpha that took her."

"Doesn't mean that I have to like it." Supergirl grumbled, even as she nodded her head in sad acceptance over the fate of the girl. If you had let me chase after him she might still be alive."

And how many others would be dead or dyeing had you made that choice instead of closing the portal? Zauriel questioned her.

Supergirl shot her friend a defiant look at his logic. "Yeah whatever, come on, like you said we need to get out of here. We also need to see if we can't do anything about hiding you." She said as she looked him up and down with a critical eye. "A gray skinned guy with wings and a loin cloth is probably going to attract attention."

"As will your own wings of fire." Zauriel pointed out nodding toward her flaming appendages. "I believe if I have the right magic's I can create a glamor and resume my identity from before though."

"Good." The Angel of Fire noted to her companion. "I also can change." she said as she let her wings cover her and when they pulled back she was back to wearing the clothes that she had before and her hair was once again red. The fiery wings then pulled back into her body until they were no longer visible.

"Impressive, I suppose we should find the Winchesters then so that we can get your itch taken of." He said solemnly.

"That we shall Castiel." Anna said with a mischievous grin. "Besides, I'd much rather Dean dealt with it then to see your attempts at it." Her wings sprouted from her back and returned her to her blonde and armored form so that she could fly once again. The two took off already planning on what they could do once they found the brothers.


	3. Abandon All Hope

"Abandon All Hope..."

I own no rights to any of the characters since they belong to the CW, Marvel Comics, DC Comics, & Lucas Films.

* * *

Sam sighed as he looked at the screen of his laptop. Ever since the empowerment of the brothers things had been different for them. Hunts had been easier for them now that the various ghosts, demons, and monsters that they faced off against lost their edge when facing them. In some cases they were actually stronger than what they fought against. That was something that was rather new to them, considering how many years they had spent being tossed around by various creatures and demons.

There were of course some downsides to having the enhancements that they had received. They had to hide their new abilities and skills away from everyone and could only use them in an all or nothing style. The fear that a hunter would become aware of their abilities meant they had to be cautious in how they did things as they doubted that most hunters would bother listening to how they got the power of the Ghost Rider and would try and kill them.

Still, hunting had become a lot easier. Hunts that might have taken one or two attempts now were a lot easier. They had even battled with a Wendigo and gone round and round with it and actually won. It had been shortly after this that the visions from Lucifer had started. Really not something that he enjoyed. The fallen Angel seemed intent on bugging him though until he gave in and gave him what he wanted. That being his body.

Dean had then been visited by Zachariah. While the pair seemed to blur to him for Dean it had been a few days. When he came to he had told him all about his adventures. Evidently there was a chance that they might not win and things could go really bad. He explained that future Dean had been a member of a super hero group with all sorts of heroes. Dean had listed a number of the heroes as well. Spider-Man, Black Knight, Blade, Juggernaut, Black Panther, Hercules, and the Witchblade.* There were others but they were scattered across the planet or they were dead. Future Dean had said that more were dead than he really liked to think about. Lucifer had somehow found a way to get into Sam and had managed to do all sorts of things to the world. Including spreading the Croat virus. A combination of magic and germ warfare that turned people into zombies.

Zachariah had been furious when Dean had still turned Michael down. Dean had told the Angel how he was going to do everything that he could to fix this, but that it would be him not Michael that did it. That there was no way he was going let Lucifer stick his hand up Sam's ass and use him as a puppet. The Archangel had given various threats before he had left in a huff, telling them that they would be sorry for this defiance. That their refusal would only make things all the worse for the world.

After that they had come across another one of the Pagans. This one had been Leshii. A Norse forest pagan that could turn into various peoples heroes with a simple touch. Dean managed to keep it distracted by trading punches with it in its Paris Hilton form. The pair of them had been near equally matched in physical strength. Dean's training had made him more capable of fighting though and he had held it back long enough for Sam to drive an iron stake into its back.

After that had been the whole mess with an Antichrist child named Jesse. All of their new power was like nothing compared to what the kid could do though. It was somewhat humbling to know that despite the new powers that they now had that there were still other beings besides the Angels that had more power than they did. It was at this time though that the pair had started to really worry about Cass. The Angel would have been a big help against the kid when he started lashing out at everyone and thing.

Dean had said that Jesse was like battling the Impossible Man or Mr. Mytzlplk with all of his raw power. Of all the beings that they had met, only the Trickster had ever seemed as powerful as Jesse was. After knocking the both of them and a demon all over the place the Jesse had taken his adoptive parents and simply disappeared. Considering the potential of the kid there was no telling just what he might do or what he might become. They would just have to wait and hope that he made the right choice.

After that had been a mission against a witch who transferred youth back and forth between card games. That had been a tough one. Particularly considering the fact that he had managed to steal the youth of Dean for a time. They had only won that one by the skin of their teeth and the witch had still managed to disappear again before they could do anything else to him.

After that had been the Trickster himself. They had thought to recruit him, but the guy seemed more interested in trying to teach them a lesson in his own weird and wacky way. Wanting them to play their parts in the coming battle and to stop trying to interfere in what was going on. The pair of them had somehow managed to break free of their restraints and attacked the Trickster. He had been as surprised as they were that they managed to get away. His next action had been a real shock as he drew a familiar silver sword.

The Trickster it turned out wasn't a Pagan at all like they had always thought. In fact, he was an Archangel. He was the Archangel Gabriel. The Archangel had ended up fighting them for nearly an hour before an angry Dean had begun trash talking Gabriel who had frozen as Dean began telling him off about his brothers and family and the pair had finally left an angry Gabriel to decide what he was going to do. It seemed more often than not they were leaving the job halfway done despite all of the new power that they had.

Then there had been that convention crap of Chuck's that they had been lured into. It seemed that despite all of the effort that they had spent in making themselves disappear that hiding from a prophet was pretty useless since he knew where you were at all times. The jerk had destroyed months of hiding themselves from other Hunters since they didn't want to risk their friends in the coming fight that they had somehow been dragged into. That hadn't been any fun, on the plus side though they had learned how to convert their shotgun into weapons that shot hellfire. A useful trick that they had somehow picked up. Only Chuck would have managed to pick a real haunted mansion to have his little game in. Sometimes knowing the prophet was more of a pain than it was worth. The fan girl that Sam had somehow acquired wasn't all that enjoyable to deal with either.

The tall shaggy haired man was doing one of the few things in hunting that hadn't gotten some unexpected increase though. He was researching trying to find the answers as to what had happened to them. He was also trying to find out what had happened to Cass since they hadn't seen or heard from the Angel in some time now.

Dean tromped into the room and fell onto a nearby bed and looked his brother over curiously. "So what are you working on so intently?" He questioned idly.

"It's something that Odin said when we fought." Sam told his brother. "Do you remember how he told us that there were rumors of others like us?"

"Yeah so?" Dean said uncaringly, as he played with a knife.

"Well that means that there might be others with new powers like ours. All we have to do is find them." Sam explained to his brother excitedly. "I mean Odin was pretty difficult for you to kill, and Baldur still got away despite both of us fighting him, and then there was Leshii who it took the both of us to stop. I wouldn't be surprised to find that Michael and Lucifer are both several times stronger than we are. If we could gather an army or group of people with powers like ours we might be able to stand a chance."

"Okay, so what did you find?" Dean said with interest, as he realized that there was sense in what his brother was saying. The idea that there might be others like them was something that would be nice. He remembered the handful of other heroes that he had met on his journey to the future and figured that there might be something to all of this. Although with their luck if they were out there they would think that they were supposed to kill them for some reason or other that only made sense to them. Considering how many times that Hunters thought that they were good targets it was amazing that they were still alive.

"Rumors are that we're not the only comic book based heroes out there anymore." Sam said nodding to the screen on his computer. "There are rumors on a white guy that acts like Blade, a girl that catches on fire, a girl that rides a Pegasus, a Dr. Fate like guy, and a girl that looks like Wonder Woman."

"Wonder Woman?" Dean said with a lecherous grin. "Think she would let me inspect her for authenticity?" He asked hopefully.

"Something tells me this one isn't like any of those bondage film girls that you like to watch." Sam returned to his brother.

"Hey you never know." Dean said with a confident smirk. "Maybe I can get that golden lasso around her." He said suggestively. "Are there any pictures of this Wonder Babe?"

"No Dean there's not." Sam said tiredly. "Besides, I'm sure she has more important things to do than to pose for you." He added in annoyance at what his brother was thinking.

"Too bad." Dean said with a shrug. "I'm sure that we could have had fun." He said with a lecherous grin. "Can you just imagine all of those girls in spandex? It would be better than any porno film that's for sure."

Sam rolled his eyes at his brother knowing that he wasn't going to be offering anything useful as long as he was fantasizing about what he would do with a Wonder Woman. "Anyways, there are also reports of an Angel like being and a girl with fire wings in medieval armor."

"Fire wings, anything else?" Dean asked as he scrunched his head up as he tried to figure who the girl might be.

Sam shrugged as he showed his brother of what looked like a blonde girl and a weird Angel looking creature helping to hold a bridge up.

"An Angel," Dean said in disbelief, "we're dealing with some fallen or weakened Angels it sounds like."

"Maybe," Sam said dubiously, "but why are they doing this? Why would they give up power to join in the fight as it is?"

"Someone found a loop hole in the noninterference policy." Dean explained triumphantly. "The guy is Zauriel as for the girl blonde with a red cape it could be any super heroine." Dean admitted.

"That it could, but it's us." A voice said.

The brothers looked up to see a pair of figures.

"Cass? Anna?" Dean said with surprise before grabbing the two former Angels into a hug. "What happened to the two of you?" He asked curiously.

"They weakened us." Castiel said solemnly. "They weakened us and then tossed us out into the Earth to do what we would. They are confident that as we now are, that we are no longer of any consequence to them or their plans."

"Well that sucks." Dean said. "So who did they turn you into?"

"The Linda Danvers version of Supergirl." Anna said with a grin. "Turns out that I make a pretty kick ass superhero though."

"You did that beforehand." Dean said with a return grin. "So why are you here anyways?"

"Since our change, we've been tracking both yourselves and Lucifer." Castiel explained. "It seems that he's been extremely busy lately."

"Yeah you could say that." Dean said gruffly. "I gotta know though, if you were so busy looking for us why you didn't stop by and check in with Bobby?"

"To obvious." Anna returned "If we had done that, there's no telling who would have gotten to you first. We had to try and be more subtle about finding you."

"Yeah well Bobby could use your help." Dean returned. "He's in a wheelchair because of that last mission he did with all of us. The least you could do is get him up and going again. Zack didn't think to add in the healing trick when he juiced us up."

"I wish that we could, however the gift of healing is one of the abilities that has been taken from us." Castiel returned calmly.

"We might be able to try a transfusion to heal him, but that's all and there's no telling what Angel blood might do to his human body though." Anna suggested to the brothers.

"We'll worry about it later." Dean said shortly. "And trust me, we are going to get back to this little detail. What have you got on Lucifer though?"

"We know where he's going to be at least for a little while." Anna said.

"And where might that be?" Dean asked with interest.

"Here in Carthage Missouri." She returned tapping to a spot on a nearby map.

"Uh huh, and what's he doing there?"

"Unknown, but the rumors of all the demons heading that way are impressive."

"Do you want to get Bobby to help us?" Anne questioned.

"Fine we'll check it out." Dean said. "But let's try not to involve Bobby or anyone else right now. Besides if the four of us can't stop whatever is out there I really don't want to think what might happen to anyone that doesn't have our juice."

"A good decision." Castiel agreed. "The four of us should be enough to deal with whatever it is that Lucifer has planned."

"Yeah cool, what's our fastest speed anyways?" Dean questioned curiously.

"That's another skill that we don't have anymore." Anna said in annoyance. "Your car is just as fast as anything that we could manage."

"Fine, then we load up our gear and start driving." Dean said. "When we finally get there then we do our thing." The others nodded as they quickly gathered all of the equipment that the brothers had lying about and stuffed it all into the car before they took off.

Six hours later the brothers and their Angel companions looked down at the town below. "Well this should be all sorts of fun that's not." Dean noted as he leaned against his car. His eyes moving with a well-practiced eye as he searched for any signs of weakness. "Time to ride Sammy." Climbing to his feet.

"Not yet," Sam objected, besides I want a closer look at this besides its still light. We haven't been able to create a stable transformation when the sun is still out." The other hunter admitted to the others somewhat embarrassed that they had some limitations.

"Doesn't mean we can't get down there." Dean returned without concern. "We used to do this sort of thing all the time before we got all of the extras. We would have still done all of this before we got the upgrades and we were some of the best kickass hunters there were. Now we're even better." He said with a confident grin. "Besides, according to the rumor mill most of the people have already abandoned it anyways. I don't know about you, but I'd like to know what's got all of these people so spooked. Now you coming or not?" He questioned his brother, knowing that he wouldn't back down from a chance to confront the Devil.

"What the hell." Sam said.

"You boys really are a bunch of idiots aren't you?" A new voice asked. The group turned to see a man in a well pressed suit glaring at them. "I mean seriously boys. I give you everything except a bloody map to come find me, and you primordial knuckle heads are here?" He demanded of the group.

"Anybody know who this joker is?" Dean questioned curiously as he looked the figure over. The others gave helpless shrugs as they looked him over.

"You mean to tell me that you've never heard of me?" The figure said in annoyance. "Well that's just great, how does one make a decent reputation if their people aren't going to at least do proper advertising." He grumbled in annoyance.

"Dean be careful, that is not a man that is a demon." Castiel warned the brothers.

"Thanks captain obvious, I never would have figured that one out on my own." Dean snarked at the former Angel.

You are welcome Dean. The Angel said unaware of the sarcasm that Dean's voice was laced with.

"Your pet Angel's right." The demon said with a smug smirk as he adjusted his expensive jacket. "The name's Crowley, I'm the King of the Crossroad Demons since you boys took out Lilith and Alistair."

"Not to be rude or anything, but we do have some important things to do so unless you've got something to say we got to get going. Dean said with a shrug. "Actually I don't care if we're being rude, you're just not worth our time right now. Come back in a few days when we're not so busy."

"Really, and how were you planning on offing the Devil down there anyways?" The demon questioned the group mockingly. "You know that it's going to take a bit more than salt and an exorcism to stop him right?"

"Eh, we'll figure something we've got a way about these things." Dean said carelessly not really paying attention to the demon.

"Really, so you're not looking for this then?" The demon asked as he pulled a rather familiar looking gun out of the folds of his jacket.

Dean snorted as he looked at the weapon. "I had wondered where that thing had disappeared to after Bella made off with it." The others could only nod in agreement as they stared at Samuel Colt's Demon Killing Gun.

"Yeah, but since you don't need this or any of my help I'll be on my way then." Crowley returned to the group with a shrug as he returned the pistol to where it had been hidden earlier. He turned around to move away only to find himself looking at the crossed arms of Anna. "Hullo there love." He said as he gave what he thought was a dashing smile at the Angel.

"Hand it over." Anna returned holding her hand out.

Crowley looked uncomfortable as he handed the gun and a box of ammo over to the Angel. "Look, just take this thing to Lucifer and empty it into his face." He said grudgingly.

"Uh-huh," Dean said disbelievingly at how easy getting Samuel Colt's weapon back after all this time. "Okay, and why exactly would you want the devil dead? Aren't you supposed to be on the same side?"

Crowley rolled his eyes at the group. "No wonder you lot have all had to be brought back from the dead at one time or another. Alright I'll use small words so even you idiots can understand what I'm trying to tell you and if we're real lucky it will all make sense even to you. Lucifer isn't a demon, remember? He's an Angel. An Angel famous for his hatred of humankind. To him, you're just filthy bags of pus. If that's the way he feels about you, what can he think about us demons?"

"But he created you." Sam pointed out.

Crowley looked at the larger hunter as if he was an idiot. To him, we're just servants. Cannon fodder. If Lucifer manages to exterminate humankind, we're next. So, help me, huh? Let's all go back to simpler, better times, back to when we could all follow our natures. I'm in sales, dammit! So what do you say if I gave you the thing, now you go kill the devil like good little trained monkeys?"

"We really should kill you now, but like Dean said we got bigger fish." Anna said as she brushed by the demon.

"Well this has been all sorts of fun. Let's not do this again." Crowley returned before he disappeared from the group.

Dean smirked the demon had obviously not been expecting them to be so uncaring about the colt. He tossed Sam, Ruby's knife, even as he reached out and caught the colt from Anna. With a practiced swing of his wrist he opened the chamber and began loading the weapon. "Let's do this." He said as they began speeding into the town. When they got there the group stopped as they saw several figures in black suits seeming to be just standing around and waiting.

The group all got out of their cars and examined the seemingly frozen mass of figures. "Alright I got nothing what about you guys?" Dean asked looking at them curiously.

"I recognize these guys." Anna noted as she looked the group over. "They're all Reapers."

"Reapers?" Dean asked as he took several nervous steps back from one group. "What are a bunch of Reapers doing in Nowheresville Missouri?" He questioned the Angels as he turned to them hopefully.

"Yeah, and what could cause such a large gathering of Reapers as well?" Sam asked, as he examined another group. "Is this town about to blow up or something?"

"Unknown," Castiel admitted, "however something must have summoned all of these Reapers here. I cannot imagine that they have gathered here for no reason. They only gather like this at times of great catastrophe. Chicago Fire, San Francisco Quake, Pompeii. "

"Yeah I doubt anyone is controlling this many of them." Dean said in agreement. He had mixed feeling about the Reapers. His first experience hadn't been that great, then again there was that cute Reaper Tessa the last time that he had dealt with a Reaper. Kind of all depended on how they were wanting to look he guessed.

"We'll scout around and see what we can find." Anna suggested to the group. "The two of you should be careful though. Until the sun sets the two of you are kind of vulnerable to anything out there."

"We'll manage." Dean assured the Fallen Angel as the pair of them powered up before disappearing. "Nice to see that they still have some of their mojo left." Dean said with a grin as they started pulling various weapons out.

"Yeah whatever," Sam said as the two of them finished with the weapons check. "Come on, let's see what we can find." As the two wandered the streets they moved around the mass of Reapers that seemed to be all over the place.

"Okay, this is kind of creepy." Dean noted as they passed yet another group of Reapers. "Tess! Come on Tess. Where are you?" He called out, hoping that the Reaper would show herself and they could get an explanation on what was happening around them.

"Come on, there's lots of other places we're going to have to look before we can figure any of this out." The two brothers shouldered their packs and began wandering through the town hoping that they would be able to detect just where it was that the Devil and all of his demon minions were hiding out. Whatever it was, they figured it couldn't be good since it had drawn so many of the Reapers out into the open.

* * *

Castiel and Anna walked into a building both of them trying to be ready for anything. "Hello sister, brother." A voice called out to them. The pair turned only for fire to erupt around them encircling the pair. In the firelight the two noticed a figure standing on the edge of the light cast by the flames.

"Lucifer." Anna growled out in greeting while Castiel merely stood back and watched the confrontation between the two.

Lucifer smirked at the pair. "What has happened to the two of you anyways? You're different." He noted, as he studied the pair with interest. "I had heard the rumors of course, but yes I can see it. Your Grace's, they've been taken down to about a third of what they used to be."

"That's none of your business." Anna spat back at him defensively.

"And do you have nothing to say Castiel?" Lucifer asked. "You always were proud of your position amongst the host. You who were once one of our Father's greatest supporters. What could either of you have done to have been treated like this?"

"We tried to stop you from rising." Castiel returned.

Lucifer chuckled at this. "You always were a blunt one brother. I guess I can see how that would be enough to make the others be a bit put out with you. I suppose the Winchesters are here?"

"We came on our own." Castiel returned to their captor.

"Loyalty. Such a nice quality to see in this day and age." Lucifer said mockingly.

"One that you never did quiet pick up on." Anna returned to the Archangel. "Even when it was popular."

"Annael you always were an opinionated one." Lucifer returned, as he moved closer to examine the pair of former Angels. "The two of you are truly strange creatures." As he stepped into the light they saw that the skin on the man was sagging, rotting, and burned.

"Looks like your vessel is falling apart." Anna noted as her eyes took in his appearances.

"Yes, well Nick wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped he'd be." Lucifer admitted with a shrug.

"You are not getting your hands on Sam." Castiel shot off defensively.

Lucifer smirked at the pair of weakened Angels. "I guess we'll just have to see about that."

* * *

"Nothing." Dean said in disgust as the two of them wandered down Main Street. "No matter where we've looked there's nothing here. All's we've found is a surplus of Reapers only they don't even seem to think we're worth looking at since they've all ignored us. To make it worse we seem to have lost both of our Angels as well."

"Dude, did you really expect for this to be easy?" Sam asked his brother.

"Well I was kind of hoping that they would be where we could find them." Dean grumbled. "I mean so far we haven't found jack for all of our searching around. Bitch."

"Jerk." Sam responded to the insult automatically.

"There you boys are." A voice said cheerfully.

The two turn to see a rather unwanted yet familiar figure standing before them. "Meg." Sam says in a dead pan voice.

"Shouldn't have come here boys." Meg scolds the pair while waving her finger at them.

"I could say the same for you." Dean returned at her as he raises the colt and looks down the sight at her.

Meg merely smirks at the pair of hunters seemingly unconcerned by the weapon being leveled at her. "Didn't come here alone Deano." She says cheerfully.

"I take it you're talking about those hellhounds with you?" Sam questioned her calmly.

"You know Sam I think we should be taking it as a compliment that she brought so many." Dean returned. "I count, what 12?"

"13." Sam answered.

"Huh cute." Dean said glaring at Meg.

The demon didn't look so comfortable anymore. "That's not possible." She stammered as she looked at the two. "There's no way that either of you should be able to see these guys."

"And yet we can sweetheart." Dean said with a grin.

Meg scowled at the pair in anger. "Fine, it doesn't matter that much anyways it just lets you know just how much you don't stand a chance against us. Come on now. My father wants to see you."

"I think we'll pass, thanks." Sam returned to her.

"Your call boys. You can make this easy or you can make it really, really hard." Meg threatened.

Dean smirks at her. "When have you ever known us to do things the easy way Meg?" He then fires the weapon catching one of the dogs in the head. "Sammy if you can catch any of them that decide to charge us I'll handle the others. Dean said as he turned to another one of the dogs and fired. After that we can go after the head bitch." He added glancing towards Meg with a cocky grin.

"Suit yourselves." Meg returned angrily. She then began pointing at the brothers. "Sic em boys." The hell hounds charged at the brothers. With the advantage of invisibility now lost to them the dogs were nowhere near as dangerous as they had been before. Dean grinned as he began firing into the group of creatures while Sam joined him with his shotgun injuring several of the creatures.

Meg frowned as she saw that the brothers were doing a decent job of holding the Hell Hounds off. With this new ability to see Hell Hounds combined with the Colt the Winchesters were making it near impossible for the easy grab that she thought that she was going to get. With a thought she disappeared from the battle to reappear inside the building where Lucifer was holding the two fallen Angels.

"The Winchesters are being forced back for the moment with hell hounds I fear that it's only temporary though. They can now see Hell Hounds." She reported to Lucifer.

"Really?" Lucifer said with interest. "That is fascinating. How did they get that little power though I wonder?" He asked as he turned to looking at his younger siblings that were still being held back by the flames of Holy Oil Fire. I mean if it was just Sam I would guess that he was drinking demon blood again."

"Don't look at us, that's not our work." Anna said.

"So what do you want me to do about the boys?" Meg asked curiously.

"Leave them alone." Lucifer said dismissively.

"Are you sure? Meg asked uncertainly.

"Trust me child." Lucifer said reassuringly. "Everything happens for a reason. Even this."

"Yeah well don't count the boys out yet." Anna said. "They've surprised people before."

"I don't doubt it Annael, but I'm an Archangel." Lucifer reminded them. "Now then, let's see if we can't convince the two of you to change your mind about you allegiances before everything changes. The Angel of Light said suggestively as he stared at the duo before him.

"You've got a long wait then." Anna returned defiantly.

* * *

Sam cursed as his shotgun clicked on an empty chamber. These Hell Hounds were a lot more trouble than he had thought they would be. Sure they could see them now and regular bullets hurt them while the colt killed them. Still these creatures were a lot tougher than he had thought that they might be. As the animal charged at him he drew a knife and as it tackled him he stabbed it. The Hell Hound roared in pain before slumping over. He pushed the heavy animal off of him and looked to see Dean was busy reloading the Colt. The pair of them had managed to take down five of the animals between them leaving another eight before they would be able to do anything.

"So any ideas?" Dean shouted as he dodged an angry swipe before he snapped the colt closed again and tried to draw a bead on another hound.

"Not really." Sam admitted as he made stabbing motions towards another one of the dogs. They had been fighting like this for the past few minutes and while they were holding their own for the moment neither of them really wanted to keep on trying either. Their goal was to stop the Devil not his pets.

"Hey do you mind we're talking?" Dean growled, as he grabbed one of the hounds that had been snapping at him and shoved the muzzle of the gun into its face and fired blowing the creature's head off. "Come on Sammy, at this rate I'm going to have more of these things dead than you are." He taunted as he watched the creatures. "Then again I got some serious reason to enjoy this." He added in, remembering how the hounds had dragged him to hell.

"Yeah, well stop enjoying yourself so much and help me finish these things off." Sam snapped at his brother. Dean nodded and the pair quickly dispatched the remaining hounds.

"Now what?" Sam asked as he jerked the knife out of the body of the final hound.

"Now we can either sit around and twiddle our thumbs or we can try and find out where Lucifer is." Dean returned.

"Well it's not like we can just go and ask somebody can we?" Sam demanded as he waved his arms around the deserted streets. "Cass and Anna have either been captured or taken out. So tell me Dean, just how do we manage this?" He demanded.

"Simple, we let our inner Ghost Riders figure out where the biggest concentration of evil is and then we go and kick the devil's ass." Dean explained to his brother. "It's not that difficult."

"Fine, if it's so easy why don't you try it then?" Sam grumbled.

"Don't mind if I do." The blonde said as he closed his eyes and focused. "Thataway." He said pointing towards a hill. "That's where we need to go." Sam shook his head and followed after his brother.

The two brothers followed the feeling till they came upon a field where a large crowd was watching a figure burying something. "There he is." Sam said pointing to the figure in the ditch. He recognized him as the form that the devil had used to visit him a few times before. "That's the devil."

"Alright then let's end this." Dean said as he checked the colt one last time. "Let's do this."

Sam nodded as he sheathed his knife if it couldn't kill Castiel it sure wouldn't be able to hurt Lucifer. He then checked the loads on shotgun. "Hey!" He called out as he moved toward the figure. The man in the ditch stopped his digging as he watched Sam approach. "I hear you been looking for me." Sam noted as he raised a shotgun at the figure before him.

Lucifer actually had the audacity to smile at him in greeting as if they were old friends. "Oh, Sam, you don't need that gun here. You know I'd never hurt you. Not really." The Devil said as he nodded toward the shotgun that the tall hunter was holding in his hands.

"Yeah well I'd hurt you." Dean said as he came up behind the surprised Lucifer. "So suck it." He said as he fired the colt into the face of the figure.

The pair watch as the devil fell to the ground between them. "Oww." Lucifer complained as he rose back to his feet. The brothers could only stare in shock as the bullet wound began healing. "Where did you get that?" He asked in annoyance as he looked at the gun in Dean's hand. He then punched Dean sending him flying. Lucifer shook his head as he picked the shovel back up and resumed the task of burying something. "Don't feel too bad, Sam. There's only five things in all of creation that that gun can't kill, and I just happen to be one of them. But if you give me a minute, I'm almost done." He said in a pleasant tone.

"I don't think so." Dean said as Sam helped him climb back to his.

"You are a stubborn one, so much like Michael in that regard." Lucifer said to the Hunter in annoyance. "Against most humans that would have knocked them out. You just take a hit and keep going though. I can see why you were chosen to be his one true vessel." Lucifer then ignored the brothers though as he conducted a ceremony while Dean shook the cobwebs out of his head. They watched in shock as he then sacrificed the demons watching. "What? They're just demons." He said without any worry.

"Yeah asshole what about the people that used to own those bodies?" Sam spat out angrily.

"Unimportant." Lucifer returned with a shrug. "If the Horsemen weren't so greedy with what they needed to wake up then they might have lived."

"Horsemen?"

Lucifer grinned at the hunter. "Oh I guess you don't know just what it is that's here then?"

"Why don't you explain it to me?" Sam demanded as he looked around for a new idea. Dean needed a few more minutes before he was battle ready.

"You know, I don't suppose you'd just say yes here and now?" Lucifer suggested hopefully. "End this whole tiresome discussion? That's crazy, right?"

"What Horsemen?" Sam demanded.

"Oh you know the Four." Lucifer said with a grin. "This one is Death."

"Dean." Sam said worriedly.

"Yeah, I heard him." Dean growled. "We got to end this now before things get any worse."

"And what do you honestly think that you can do to stop all of this?" Lucifer taunted them. "You're ace in the hole just blew up your faces." He reminded them while nodding towards the ineffective colt.

Dean grinned back at him as he held the colt up. "Actually this here was the bonus card. Let's see what happens when you face the real plan. Let's do it Sam."

The brothers closed their eyes and then gasped as they felt a familiar feeling as their bodies burst into flames.

Lucifer watched as the two flaming skeletons now faced off with him. He then began mockingly clapping at them. "Alright I'm impressed, I never would have expected for the others to try this." He admitted mockingly, even as he chuckled at the pair of flaming figures. "I mean this is really one I wasn't expecting. They turned you into Champions? What kind of idiot would have done something like that?"

"The age of Champions is upon us again Lucifer. It's merely the way of things." Anna said as she and Castiel appeared from overhead. "Your demoness might need some help after the mess that we made of her." She added in with a smirk.

"Well now this just got real interesting." Lucifer said as he saw that the four fighters were now staring at him intently as they spread out to face him. He noted that the flaming Winchesters had each drawn their demon killing weapons increasing their power by several levels. "I have to admit that this is a lot better than I had actually expected from any of you." He said as he looked the group over. "And once I win I'll have even more power." He said with a grin. "Good thing that I was aware of this already though. It will make this more fun when I finally do win."

Sam snarled defiantly and swung his blade causing a stream of fire to leap toward the fallen Archangel.

Lucifer blew and an ice storm came out of his mouth holding the flames back. Sam finally stopped his assault. "Really, did any of you think that this would really work? I mean I could turn your powers on and off with but a thought." He reminded the group.

"It's better than doing nothing." Supergirl returned as she dove at him her fists leading the way.

Lucifer caught her by the arms and with a spin and a release he sent her flying into Dean,

"Shall we see just what you can do then?" Lucifer said. "Away from here of course since I have a few more things to do. There are others that would enjoy seeing you though." The group faded and reappeared elsewhere.

"Where are we?" Dean questioned.

"Unknown," Castiel said, "however I think we should be more worried about what is coming." He said nodding towards a red car that was coming at them. The car stopped and an armored figure stepped out of it. The figure walked a few feet before finally stopping. "So you're the infamous Winchesters." The man said as he tucked his thumbs into his belt loops as he looked them over. "The fights that you've been a part of have made you strong. Let's see just how strong you really are though."

"And who are you?" The Ghost Rider that was Dean snarled out at the newcomer.

The man chuckled as he held his hand out and a red sword rose up out of the ground and into his hand. "I'm going to be your final test boys. As for who I am, here's a hint. I was in Germany, then in Germany, then in the Middle-East... I was in Darfur when my beeper went off. I'm waiting to hook up with my siblings, I've got three. We have so much fun together."

"Dean, Sam be careful." Castiel said as he drew his own sword. "That's one of the Horsemen. That is War."

"As in the Horseman of the Apocalypse?" Sam asked in awe.

"The same." Anna said tersely.

"Had you been aware of my presence sooner then it's likely that you would have been able to stop me much easier. With Death having risen though the Horsemen are at their strongest. All Four of the Horsemen awake and alert at the same time and on the same continent. Usually only one or two of us is active at the same time and we stay on the four points of earth so as not to interfere with each other, but with all of us so close together we're going to be at our strongest. Something that hasn't happened in years." War crowed as he looked at the group.

"Cass how strong is this guy?" Sam, questioned.

"When War, Famine, and Death last came together they created your Civil War." The Angel explained to the brothers. "War and Famine created the First World War and War and Pestilence created the Second World War. Their power is as mysterious to me as it is to you. They are forces of nature themselves."

"Not quiet." War corrected the Angel. "We're more like concepts made reality. Except for Death he actually extends beyond the laws of nature though. Seeing as he's the oldest of the Horsemen though that is no surprise. I must say that I approve of your forms, but it only shows me that I myself need to change myself." War said as he held his sword up and seemed to be lost in thought, Lightning seemed to flash and when it faded they saw that the figure had suddenly changed.

"No fricking way." Dean said as he stared at what their opponent had become. Despite a few changes the armor was very familiar looking. War had just become covered from head to foot in what looked like Darth Vader armor that was glowing red with a flaming cape and was wielding a red hot sword that glowed ruby red. As much as it pained his ego to admit it. The Horseman had definite taste when it came to looks. One of the movie villains that represents bad ass in every way, the one and only Lord Vader standing in as the Avatar of War.

"And now we begin." War declared in a deep and echoing voice, as he raised his sword into the ready position.

* * *

*A character from each story that I have planned if I ever get that far in this series.

** Yeah, no need for Jo and Ellen to die in this world. Besides I'm in the minority that liked Jo. Her character really got good in those last episodes in particular. Then her ghost, man I loved having her back.


	4. Flames of War

As usual I own nothing of any of the characters or events described in this story. The CW owns the rights to all Supernatural characters, Joss has the BTVS ones mentioned here, DC and Marvel own their respective characters & JKR owns her characters that are mentioned here.  


* * *

Two Ghost Riders, Zauriel, and Supergirl all stared at the monster that was bearing down on them. The two Riders were standing at the ready position while the other two hovered in the air above them. The creature was easily twice their size and carried a sword made of flames. It had the appearance of Darth Vader, but its armor appeared to be glowing red, it wore a cloak of flames on its shoulders, and the lightsaber like sword it carried was actually glowing even brighter that the rest of the armor.

"So, any ideas?" Dean one of the figures possessing the powers of the Ghost Rider asked as he checked his gun.

"Yes, we fight." Castiel returned, as in his Zauriel personae he drew his own sword out.

"Glad to have you with us on this one Cass." Dean said bemusedly. "Let's kick War Vader's ass."

"War Vader." The figure said with interest, its voice echoing within the armor as it considered the name that it had been branded with by the Hunter. "Yes, I think that name is as good as any other for this form." It decided with a nod, its flaming cloak seeming to billow out behind it.

"Stand back boys, let's see if we can't hurt him first." Anna as Supergirl ordered as the two fallen Angel readied themselves for attack. She took a deep breath and blew causing a harsh wind to buffet War Vader. Zauriel opened his mouth and a cry came out of his mouth that had the brothers wincing as they heard the Enochian language being used as a weapon against the creature. The combined sonic and ice attacks pushed War Vader away from the group and into the ground.

"Remind me to never ask her to blow me when she's in that form." Dean said as he watched Supergirl's attack.

The two finally stopped and they all looked at War Vader as he was climbing to his feet out of the small hole that he had been forced into. The combined attacks having made a small trench where they had smashed him into the earth. Despite the fact that they had thrown him down and into the ground there didn't seem to be any real damage done to him. It was as if the attacks hadn't even phased him other than to cause him to lose his balance and get dirt all over himself.

"Not bad, but it'll take more than that to stop me." War Vader proclaimed to the group of heroes as he adjusted his grip on his weapon and watched the group. The former Angels were shocked that their assault hadn't so much as phased their opponent.

"Our turn." Dean growled as he and Sam stomped forward. Dean had a chain wrapped around one arm while Sam had the Demon Killing Knife out and ready. The two brothers lunged forward and moved with the well-practiced ease of hours of training together to fight superior opponents. Sam with his knife was trying to find a spot where the blade would dig into War Vader. Meanwhile Dean was using the heavy chain as a way to repeatedly ring the bell of the Horseman. The Horseman stumbled as blow upon blow rained down on it. A few of the blows were deflected as the sword blocked any of the shots that might have proven vulnerable and the knife was blocked before it could dig in to any vulnerabilities. The two Riders backed off in time for the two flyers to come swooping in and slam their fists into War Vader. The sword was suddenly there one hand braced against the end while the other clutched the hilt and their blows slammed into the weapon doing nothing more than causing him to slide back several feet.

"Not bad heroes." War Vader said as he adjusted his stance. "Against almost anyone else that attack might just have gotten through." He informed them with a smug lilt to his voice. "I believe it's my turn now though." He stretched his hand out and opened it and a wave of flames seemed to come out of it. "Say hello to the flames of war." He said darkly as the flames moved towards the group.

The group stood firm and tried to block the flames. Despite the fact that the flames shouldn't have hurt them they were all quickly overwhelmed by the unexpected power from the flames as they were thrown back.

"Yes," War Vader said as he looked at the group. "It feels good to be so close to my true power once again. I don't have to sow dissent anymore, but I can take up my weapon and do that which I was created for. Even your own flames are no match for the fires that I command. It's a shame we're here on this part of the world though, the only wars that I can draw strength from are the gang wars. Had we been in the Middle East my power would truly be something to behold." He cackled at the thought of the potential that he tap into. "No matter, soon enough there will be more than enough power for me to use no matter where on the Earth I am."

The Ghost Riders ignored the gloating Horseman as they charged at him again. The Horseman laughed as he allowed the pair to close the distance with him and then launched his own attack before they could get any closer. He slashed Sam across the chest and then slammed the flat of the blade into Dean's face causing him to stagger back. Supergirl and Zauriel landed alongside of the brothers to launch their own close up attacks only for War Vader to suddenly reverse his hold on the blade and slammed the blade into the ground causing a circle of flame to spread out and knock all of them back into the ground.

"Is this all that the Chosen champions of Heaven and Hell are capable of doing against me?" War Vader jeered, as he looked down at the group on the ground in front of him. "I know that none of you are full blown Angels, but I thought that you would have given me something of a challenge. You Winchesters were trained by one of my greatest creations, forged through my flames in the very concept of war and battle. Your bodies are the mightiest of vessels for the most mighty of Archangels, who shall do battle and cleanse the world in fire, your bloodlines descended from that of Cain and Able themselves. Surely you can do more than this." He said in disgust. "I was expecting a true contest of powers with this fight not this weak showing that you are giving me."

"The way he's talking, you would think that we were the prize winners at a dog show." The Ghost Rider that was Dean hissed as it rose back to its feet.

War Vader scowled at the flippant attitude of the young one before him. "Perhaps I should find the old drunk in a wheel chair perhaps he will give a more interesting challenge than what you have." He suggested with a smirk.

The Ghost Riders responded by lunging and tackling War Vader. They then began attacking with a fury that they hadn't shown before as Hellfire and Angelfire struck him from nearly all angles.

"You should know better than to threaten Bobby Singer around Sam and Dean Winchester." Zauriel noted to War Vader as he watched the brother strike the armored figure with rage. "Now it's personal, as Dean would say."

"Leave the quips to people who can make decent deliveries." Anna ordered, as she watched the brothers waiting for her moment to join the fight again.

"Yes, show me your power." War Vader said as he backhanded Sam to the side he then punched Dean off of him. Each blow was extremely precise as the Avatar of War showed that he was more than just a name, but had all of the skills that a fighter like him should have. He rose back to his feet to stare at the group of Champions that the Angels had assembled to battle Lucifer and those that were willing to work with him. "Come on, is that all you got?" He demanded while waving his blade at them in a challenge.

The Angels took to the sky and began peppering War Vader with attacks. Zauriel using his sonic scream attacks while Supergirl switched back and forth between artic breath and fire sight.

War Vader held his sword with the blade pointing downward and suddenly flames seemed to burst from the end and he rocketed into the air the flames propelling him higher and higher. His body slammed into Zauriel and the two came crashing down to the ground. He slammed his fist into the throat of the Angel. The now silent Zauriel performed a powerful punch that sent War Vader back towards the ground. He twisted while in the air and landed on a bent knee.

Zauriel landed next to the Ghost Riders rubbing at his throat where he had been struck. The brothers made a defensive wall between the two. Supergirl power dived at him from behind. His sword flared for a moment and he spun slashing at her, sparks flew from where he attacked her and caused her to go off course and plough into the ground creating a giant trench.

The Riders each swung a chain and tried to capture the figure only for the chains to be deflected by the blade. "Yes give me your best." He declared at the group.

"We have to get his sword away from him." Zauriel rasped out as he slowly climbed back to his feet. He rubbed his throat where he had been struck in an effort to make speech easier. "Without his sword he is nowhere near as strong."

"Agreed," Supergirl said as she joined the group. "In order to defeat War we have to take away his sword, and then we need to capture the true center of his power." The Riders looked at her with what might be interest. It was somewhat hard to tell with only flaming skulls staring back at you what they were thinking or feeling. "We need to take the ring off of his finger." She explained to them. "Without the Ring, then his power should be gone." She released a blast of her fire vision only for the sword to seemingly absorb the energy from the attack and then send it right back at the group throwing them all several feet back. Supergirl grimaced as she climbed back to her feet her body covered in ash from her own attack. She grimaced as she held her arm where she could feel burns appearing on her despite her armor.

The Riders seemed to recover from the fire attack faster than the others, since they were actually made of fire. Following the orders that the two Angels had given them they began to make their attack. Sam moved in first the demon killing knife enhanced by the power of the Ghost Rider burned with a dangerous light.

War Vader responded by deflecting the blade then grabbing the arm of the Rider he performed a throw that sent Sam over his shoulder and flying several feet.

Zauriel and Supergirl responded followed the brothers by launching their attacks again. Zauriel with his Sonic Scream and Supergirl with her artic breath. War Vader wasn't caught off guard though as he absorbed the power of the attacks with his sword. While the sword was glowing brighter Dean finally made his move. He had been swinging a pair of chains over his head waiting for just the right moment to strike. The chains went flying again only this time instead of going for War they wrapped around the sword.

"You think to challenge my strength against yours?" War Vader snarled out at the former Hunter. With a mighty tug he lifted the Ghost Rider into the air and flung him to the other side. The Ghost Rider fell on his face but lifted his head up and snarled unwilling to release his hold on the blade. "So be it fool." War Vader said as he sent the Ghost Rider flying again so that he landed on his back. "How long do you think that you can do this boy?"

"GO!" Supergirl ordered and the two flyers took to the air to engage War now that his arm was weighted down somewhat.

War Vader didn't seem to be worried and used the Ghost Rider himself as a weapon as he began to swing his sword back and forth using the Ghost Rider as a flail. Each time that the Ghost Rider slammed into the ground he huffed in pain. Spinning on his heel War Vader managed to use the host and catch both of the flyers and send the pair crashing to the ground. "Had enough yet boy?" War Vader demanded of the champion. "All you have to do is let go of the sword." He informed him in a menacing manner.

The Rider glared back defiantly and let out a whistling sound and suddenly there was a roaring sound and the Impala could be seen racing towards them.

"You think that's going to help you?" War Vader demanded angrily.

Zauriel and Supergirl charged at him. War Vader released his grip on the sword with one hand and raised it at the Angels and a stream of flame began pouring out of the hand forcing the Angels to pull back from the dangerous flames.

While the Angels had distracted War Vader. The Rider had tied the chains he had been holding to the back of the Impala and entered the car he revved the engine and then pressed the gas.

War Vader faltered for a moment as his feet were nearly jerked out from under him. Setting his feet and grasping his blade with both hands he pulled even as the wheels of hellfire spun uselessly in an attempt to jerk the weapon away.

Sam suddenly appeared alongside of War Vader with his blade out and at the ready and slashed downward at the elbow of the right arm. The armor resisted for a moment but then a flash of light happened that blinded all of them. When the flash faded they saw that the Impala was roaring away and the other Rider was standing over the one armed War Vader. The Rider reached down and grabbed the limb up off the ground. As his hand grasped the appendage it flickered for a moment before the armor faded away leaving a human like arm in its place. On the third finger was a simple gold band that could just as easily be mistaken for an old wedding ring.

The heroes gathered together and looked the ring over. "He should have dressed as Sauron." The Rider that was Dean noted in what seemed to be amusement as it examined the ring in its brother's hand.

"Can't really argue with that one." A bemused Supergirl returned to him as she examined the rather simple looking piece of jewelry that they had taken. "Only there are four of these things instead of this being the one ring."

The group ignored War as he clutched his arm where Sam had slashed through him. Now that he was back in his human form he was a much lesser threat to them. The figure looked at the Champions that were busy examining the source of his power. Holding his hand out the sword suddenly sprouted flame and flew back into his hand. He quickly began inching away from the group who had all turned to watch him with interest. "You have not seen the last of me. I shall not forget what you have done to me." He snarled at the group. As he spoke the red Darth Vader armor reappeared on his body. They all noticed that as soon as the armor began appearing his arm began to regrow as well. In a matter of moments the limb was back. The brothers tensed expecting a second round from War Vader but he turned towards his car though which shimmered and began a giant red dark horse motorcycle. War Vader quickly got on the bike and tore off and away from the group.

The brothers began to go after him when Supergirl stopped them. "He's not important to us anymore. We have more important things to worry about now. Besides, he's nowhere near what he used to be." She noted carelessly. The Riders stopped and looked at her curiously. Supergirl smirked as she held the ring up between her thumb and forefinger. "This is the main source of his power. Without this he can't get any stronger. He may still have his sword, but without the Ring he can only call upon a limited amount of his power anymore."

"Indeed." Zauriel said in agreement. "Where he once held the power to battle us all to a standstill he now only possess the power of one of us now."

"Yes, he is now at the same level as a champion or a pagan. Without the ring he can't get stronger and once we manage to deal with the other Horsemen it's likely that they will return to their weakened states that they were at before Lucifer recruited them. It's likely that War may even be stuck with his current form whenever he uses his sword from now on."

"None of that matters now though." Zauriel reminded them. "We must return and do battle with Lucifer."

"No," Supergirl said. "We lost our chance to stop him this time around. If we go there now he could have Death do something to us. We may have weakened War, but we still lost the fight this time around." Left unsaid was the fact that they were all in various levels of exhaustion and that it had taken all of their strength to battle with War Vader. It was doubtful that they could do the same against the much more powerful Archangel.

Each of them glowed for a moment before they returned to their human forms. "Well that was interesting." Dean said before he wearily slumped against the side of his car. The others nodded as they were all in various stages of weakness after battling with War's Avatar.

"So that scum bag is now on our level right?" Dean asked curiously wanting to make sure he knew what was happening.

"Very close." Anna said in agreement. "He may be slightly more powerful though." She warned the brothers, knowing that they would want a rematch now that the odds were more in their favor. "It's hard to be sure, and I wouldn't be surprised if he can still draw power from places where great battles happened or where there are current wars going on."

"It makes sense that those would strengthen him and add to his power." Sam said in agreement. "He feeds off the negative energy that comes with conflict."

"So what do we do now?" Dean asked. "I mean we just got our asses kicked, and it was only through luck that we managed to get War to back off as it was. If Sam hadn't been playing possum with War he would never have gotten close enough to take his arm off. And that's just one of the muscle. How does one take on the big guy if that guy was the muscle?" He asked the fallen Angels hoping that they would have an answer for him. "I mean the Colt barely even phased Lucifer." He complained in frustration. The Colt had been an ace in the whole for the mission and it had turned out to be a dud.

The reassurance that he was looking for was not coming though despite the desperation that he was using to ask for it. "We will figure something out." Castiel assured his friend awkwardly, unsure of what else to say to him.

"Yeah, sure." Dean said gruffly, not looking completely convinced that they might. All the power that they had and they were still little bitches when compared to Lucifer. "Hard to stay so upbeat though when you know we just blew our best chance." He noted.

"How Dean? The Colt didn't work, and there's no way to know if the addition of our power would have done anything either." Sam informed his brother. "Face it, we were outclassed from the very beginning. We're going to need a new plan before we try and take Lucifer down again."

Dean scowled but didn't say anything unwilling to admit that they had all been played so well and so easily by the Archangel. The fact that Lucifer had taken their best hits and not even been bothered was also troubling at the moment. How did you hurt something that could take their combined power and shrug it off? They would need an army of super powered beings to fight him and he somehow doubted that there were very many of those hanging around. Even if what Sam said was true and there were others like them he doubted that they would all be willing to work with them. From what he remembered of the future not very many of the heroes liked him and had only been there because of the assault planned on Lucifer. He was sure that most of them would want them dead for some reason or other. The fact that they were held responsible for letting Lucifer out in the first place made it hard to make new friends and even a lot of their old friends were somewhat fickle these days.

"There you idjits are." A voice growled at them from behind. "Do you bunch of blame fools have any idea how long I've been searching for you?" The image of Bobby Singer demanded as he glared at the group of heroes.

"Bobby?" The brothers said in disbelief at seeing their second father figure before them and standing up. The last time that they had seen the man he had been stuck in a wheelchair and there had been little to no hope of healing him at the time.

"Is he a ghost?" Sam asked in disbelief wondering what had happened to their mentor.

"Who or what did it Bobby?" Dean demanded. "Tell me what did this to you so I can make them regret ever being born." Dean was practically growling now in his fury.

"You idjits, I'm still alive." The image of the old Hunter grumbled at the pair. "If the two of you ever came by once and a while you might know that." He said rather pointedly.

"But how?" Sam asked as he took in the figure before them that was telling them that he wasn't a ghost.

"Astral projection." Anna explained to the pair knowingly. Her eyes glanced towards the Hunter who nodded his head in agreement with her assessment of the situation.

"So you're alive?" Dean asked gruffly as he fought to regain control of his emotions.

"Balls, yes I'm alive boy." Bobby assured the Winchesters in his own way. "I've been taking care of myself a lot longer and a lot better than either of you two fools have done for yourselves. I haven't ever died and come back." He reminded the pair with a knowing glare.

"Wow, Bobby." Sam said in relief glad that the man had not been killed by one of their enemies and was now haunting them.

"Don't you Bobby me. The old Hunter growled in annoyance at the pair of younger Hunters as he shook his hand at them while fixing them with a look that could curdle milk. "If I thought that it would help I would take the both of you out behind the shed and give you the thrashing of your lives for everything that you put me through these last few months. First I was having to spend all of my time trying to find you. You pretty much pulled a John Winchester on the world with your little disappearing act then some of the Angels decide to grant me some power that may or may not be of any help." Now that the worry that each side was alright the Hunter was ready to speak his mind at the two boys that he had helped raise.

"They gave you a power?" Dean asked worriedly, wondering what it was that they had done to Bobby. After everything that they had been through he really didn't want any of the people that they held close to be caught up in this weird mixture of a curse and a blessing. The only thing that was going for them with their powers was that they didn't lose control and began rampaging monsters when they transformed and still had a majority of their control when they turned into the Ghost Riders.

"Did I say you could talk boy?" Bobby asked while leveling a glare at the blonde causing him to bow his head and hunch over in embarrassment. "Right, now where was I?"

"You were talking about what the Angels gifted you with." Castiel returned helpfully as he stared at the figure of Bobby solemnly.

"You keep your gob shut to." Bobby snarled at the fallen Angel. "I'm still mad at you for not finding anyway to heal me. I still say it was rather convenient for you to lose your healing powers right when they could have been useful. Do you really want to make me more annoyed with you right now? You're not one of the heavy hitters in the world like you used to be." He reminded him. "Give me enough time and I'm pretty sure that I could take even you down with the right things you overgrown bird brain."

The former Angel opened his mouth only to get kicked in the leg by Anna who shook her head sternly. "Uh no?" Castiel asked uncertainly, his eyes darting between Bobby and Anna as if unsure which of them he should be taking his orders from.

"Good then stay quiet." Bobby ordered before he rounded on the brothers again. The relieved looks that they had been giving each other quickly changing back to nervousness. What followed next was five minutes of Bobby tearing the three knuckleheaded idjits that didn't know how to use the common sense that they had been born or created with new ones. The diatribe of insults was only slowed down long enough for Bobby to get a new breath or for Anna to silence Castiel again for preparing to respond to something the man said. After the trio had been lectured Bobby had turned to look Anna over. "As for you." The old Hunter said as he looked the redheaded former Angel over with interest. "I want you to see to it that these three get their asses to my place at once. I don't have the time to waste on them anymore right now."

"How come she's not in trouble?" Dean blurted out wincing as he saw the image of Bobby glare at him.

"Balls boy, why the hell do you think?" The Hunter demanded of the younger man. "The only way she knew about me is through Cass unless you were telling her things that you shouldn't have been?" He added with a dangerous look in his eyes that promised untold amounts of pain and suffering if he had been spilling Hunter secrets to another person even if they were an Angel. Bobby's place was considered one of the few Hunter safe Havens now that the Roadhouse had been destroyed. To talk about it with others was a big no, no.

"Of course I haven't Bobby, you know me better than that." Dean assured the old man quickly as he held his hands up in a placating way even as he sounded insulted.

"Good, then she's not at fault for not coming since we've never met." The man narrowed his eyes at her. "Now that we have though I don't want to hear no excuses because super powers or not if any of you make me worry like you did this time around I'll set you in the corner until I know that you can behave is that understood?" He asked while glaring at each of them with a dark look.

"Yes sir." Sam and Dean echoed not wanting to anger the man any more than they already had.

Anna was shocked to see Castiel falling into line as well and giving his own nod of agreement to the aging Hunter. Sure he was a soldier and had been created to follow orders, but this was not what she had expected from him. In the of eternity having been his commanding officer she had thought that she knew everything that there was to know about him, but it seemed as if there was still much about him that she had never known about him if he was willing to listen to Bobby Singer. They were ancient beings that had been around since the beginning of the Earth and he was willing to take orders from this being that wasn't even a hundred years old. She kind of understood him following Dean's orders since he was the one true vessel for Michael the commander of the Holy Host after God. It simply made no sense to her. Then again a lot of what Castiel did these days was confusing to all those that knew him. He who had been the most loyal and steadfast of Angels, acting like this was simply out of character with everything he was. His interaction with Dean Winchester had somehow seemingly turned him into a whole new being. And while he was still something of a stick in the mud, he was also one that she could tolerate as well since he was willing to do the right thing. That didn't mean that she was anywhere near close to forgiving him for his part in her capture, but she was at least willing to work with him.

Bobby rounded on her and gave her one final look. With a few muttered grumbles before he seemed to vanish. There was no flash or any other warnings and a hesitant Dean had cautiously waved his hand in the air that Bobby had been in before he finally seemed to relax now that he was sure that Bobby wasn't there. "Come on." Dean said as he headed for the Impala. "We need to go make sure Bobby's still alive."

The others nodded their acceptance of the command. The Angels knew that they could reassure the Hunter that Bobby was telling the truth and that he was communicating with them, but knew that the man wasn't overly likely to believe what they told him. Dean needed to see the older Hunter for himself before he was ready to believe that everything was safe.

The drive was a tense affair as the brothers rode in silence. Castiel flew overhead while Anna rode in the car alongside of the boys doing her best to keep them calm. The boys were both going through thoughts of who might have attacked Bobby and what would have made him become a ghost. The pair of them could just imagine that some of their enemies would find some sort of perverted satisfaction from turning their friend into one of the very things that he had once hunted.

When they got within a mile from Bobby's junkyard. The group stopped and watched the place. The two fallen Angels using their vision to spy on the place.

"Well?" Dean asked them impatiently.

"I sense no demons or other supernatural beings in the area." Castiel informed them. "The place is safe, at least for the moment."

"Yeah, it looks good." Anna confirmed to the group.

"Alright, then this is how we're going to do it then." Dean said as they all gathered around the hunter as he knelt down and began drawing in the dirt. "Sam, you'll take the back I'll take the front. Anna, I want you on the roof and Cass you'll be on over watch by flying above the house. If this is a trap they may already know about you guys, but they may not be ready for the level of interference that you're capable of. They're used to Angels that sit on their asses with their thumbs up their butts, not ass kicking superheroes."

"You have such a lovely way of putting way of putting things Dean." Anna said with a smirk. "Fine, we'll back you up and hope that you don't need us to do anything."

"Right, Anna get Sam into the junkyard without using the front gate. Now lets' get going." Dean ordered the group. Sam and Anna clasped hands and she flew them up and over while Castiel shot towards the sky until he looked around the size of a small bird. Running back to the car Dean headed back to the car and drove up to the junkyard. He climbed out of the car and pulled his shotgun out. He nodded toward Supergirl who was hovering over the roof at the ready. He stormed up the stairs and through the door he heard Sam doing the same thing in the back of the house. The two stopped in the study where they saw a scowling Bobby sitting at his desk a bottle of whisky.

The man merely stared at them looking slightly annoyed at seeing them. "It's about time that you idjits got here." He grumbled. "Did you have to go and destroy the doors though?" He demanded as he nodded towards the shattered entrances.

"Sorry, we had to be sure that you were alive Bobby."

The old man nodded his head in acceptance. "It's about time you boys started thinking but you have to be the ones to fix the house."

"Yes sir." The two said.

"Now where the others?"

"Outside waiting in case it's a trap."

"Well tell them to get themselves in here."

A few minutes later all four members of the group were assembled in the library while Bobby stared at them. The group looked at Bobby who was sitting in a chair and looking at them. All of them having gone through the various detection tests to ensure that none of them were demons or most other supernatural beings.

"So they healed your legs and what did it cost you?" Dean asked worriedly.

"Dude." Sam said to his brother reproachfully.

"It's alright Sam, not that Dean is one to make comments about making deals with bad returns." Bobby shot off at the two. "No the Angels decided that they wanted me where I could be of some use to them in the war."

"So what did they do to you?"

"They made me their planetary phone." Bobby said grudgingly as he climbed to his feet for a moment and got shot glass for each of them. "Here," He growled as he offered each of them a drink. "I can communicate or connect with any hunter in the world with either astral projection or telepathy."

"So basically instead of what you do with phones already they made it so that you can do it by magic." Dean summarized.

"Yeah, Angels said that there simply ain't enough of us left for me to relearn how to be useful." Bobby informed them. "They were going to just make me a magical communicator, but I refused told them I'd only agree if they fixed my legs."

"Oh come on Bobby just think of all the Professor X references we could of used." Dean teased their mentor. "I mean it would have been a great cover. Although you would have had to shave all that shaggy hair on your head before we could go for real." He added as he seemed to be trying to figure how the burly man would look like that.

"And that's precisely why I wasn't going to let them give me mental powers while I was stuck in that damn chair." Bobby returned to the blonde. "Knowing you, I'd wake up with it all shaved off." Dean gave an unrepentant smirk showing that the thought had already passed his mind. "Try it, and we'll see how strong you really are." The hunter warned him.

"Anyways I've been working on bringing the various Hunters together. Someday we're going to be connected in ways that no one could believe. I can send astral projections that can either research or talk to hunters and I don't pass out and can send out two right now with a chance for more as I get more used to it. I've already been in contact with other people that fight the supernatural or something similar." A map was pulled down so that they could all see it. "One of my contacts is in Ireland, I've been in contact with Chiron the centaur near Greece, I've been hearing rumors of two or three different groups in California, talked with a girl with a flying horse in Europe, and that doesn't even have anything to do with the regular hunters. Boys it looks like we finally got us a chance to win this war."

"Huh." Dean said in disbelief. "It sounds like we're all getting new jobs in the world."

"Indeed. The war is one that will be most interesting." Castiel said.

"So where do we need to go Bobby?"

"You need to try and track down all of Lucifer's supporters." Bobby explained to the group. "These spots are the current hot spots." He added pointing to various locations.

"Then let's get started." Dean said.

"Castiel and I'll head towards the north." Anna said.

"Fine that means we'll head south." Dean said in agreement as they began to make plans on how to fight everything that was out there.

With so many of the Hunters having been taken out through various methods they were needed more than ever.

As they talked the brothers learned that it wasn't just the American Hunters that had a sudden loss of their numbers. All of the various supernatural creatures and beings had seemingly been making a dent in the numbers of the hunters. England had several hunters that were in without souls and several Hunting bases had been struck reducing the numbers drastically. "What caused this?" Dean asked curiously. "I can't imagine that one day that the monsters and demons suddenly decided to get organized. That leaves the big question of what caused it?"

"Lots of things." Bobby said tiredly. "The destruction of the seals, Angels dying or falling, something in Europe known as the Deeper Well has been breached, the Illyria managed to get out and put its essence into several different people and since then they've been on a rampage all over the world."

"Illyria managed to escape?" Anna said in surprise and fear.

"Know this one do ya." Bobby asked with interest.

"Of course I know this one." The redhead returned to him. "The Illyria was one of the most powerful demon kings of the primordial age." Anna explained to her shocked audience. "It was known as a God King at the height of its power and it took the collaboration of bot Angel and Elder Demon to battle it and contain it within the deeper well. This was in the days when Lucifer was still a part of the Holy Host." She added, as she tried to explain how dangerous Illyria really was. "In its normal form it's taller than even Castiel when he was an Angel at full power."

"Wait your saying that this thing is bigger than the Chrysler Building when it's a full strength?" Dean asked in surprise.

"In its true form yes." Cass said in agreement, what else has been going on?"

"Dark magic users have sprung up all over the place with renewed interest, according to you four we can also add in the Horsemen of the Apocalypse running around again, along with all of those demons that escaped from Colt's prison in the last year." Bobby informed them. "Any other bad news you want to drop in my lap as long as we're doing this?"

Ignoring the mocking tone Sam continued on. "Zach told us that the White Master was dead any ideas what that might mean?" Sam asked looking around the group.

"There are many that hold the title of White Master in their title, until we know more we shall have to wait before we can guess just whom it is that they spoke of." Castiel informed the group. "It could be Dumbledore in Scotland who was referred to as the White Mage, the Monks in Tibet have a White Master who has been known to help with those suffering from supernatural diseases, in California there is another White Master there, the last of the Guardians is also located in California near the Hellmouth. There are simply too many that a title such as that could refer to." The group nodded their heads in acceptance of that knowing that it could be a while before they knew just who it was that the Archangel had referred to.

"Yeah, and the demonic dragons have made a return to the world as well." Anna said darkly. "We tried to stop them, but it was a losing fight from the very beginning. Wouldn't be surprised if Zachariah set us up for failure from the very beginning either."

"Balls, as if we didn't have enough troubles already without adding to it." Bobby grumbled as he listened to the potential troubles that could turn their eyes to them and bite them in the ass. "I've also found out that there are rumors of the government trying to involve themselves in our world as well. Considering some of the idjits that run those sorts of things I doubt that they'll do something intelligent like ask us for help. They're more likely to shoot experiment or imprison us than anything else."

"So we have to be doubly careful." Dean said getting agreeing nods. "You in particular Cass, you don't have the same amount of powers that you used to have so you have to be real careful." He stressed to the former Angel.

"Understood Dean." Castiel returned to the Hunter.

"Good, now then let's get started on figuring out which son of a bitch we need to be ganking first." Dean said with a smirk.

They had a mission and a war to fight and they weren't about to stop now that they had finally gotten the strength to make a bigger difference than they had before. If they wanted to try and come at them then he would be more than willing to let them try. He would meet them with both barrels of his gun and a wide smile. The Angels wanted a war? Well fine he'd give them one that they wouldn't ever forget.  


* * *

Well that's this part of Excalibur done with. I still have plans for more though. Next part has been titled _Excalibur: Sentinels_ I'm sure some of the Comic fans can guess some of the characters. Be another few weeks before I get to it though.


End file.
